


on the willows, there

by lutzaussi



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Politics, Umino Iruka is Royalty, non-canon backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-10-11 11:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10463745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lutzaussi/pseuds/lutzaussi
Summary: When Umino Iruka was three his family emigrated from the Land of Water to the Land of Fire. They settled in Konohagakure, where Iruka grew up not knowing of his heritage, loyal to those who raised him and accepted him, to those who became his family.Twenty-one years after Umino Iruka's family emigrated to the Land of Fire, his parents' past steps into his present.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Unseelieknight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unseelieknight/gifts).



> anyway i blame tasha for this bc she mentioned anastasia a couple of times and that's how this happened  
> takes place technically in-canon, during the time skip. idk how long it'll end up being.  
> more tags will be added the further into the story i get  
> (also as edited on 4/15 officially dedicated to tasha, while i try to write the next chapter in a way that makes sense)

Three months after Uzumaki Naruto had left Konohagakure to train under the Sannin Jiraiya, the weather in the Land of Fire began to turn from the heavy heat of late summer to the cool dryness of autumn. The Academy was back in full swing and Senju Tsunade, Hokage of the hidden village, was interrupted in her work.

“Tsunade-sama?” Shizune called, pushing into the office with Tonton on her heels. She had a pile of paperwork in her arms, and a reference book that Tsunade had called for, but she wasn’t there for either of those things. “Tsunade-sama, Raidou sent word from the desk, there’s two people coming to talk with you. Genma’s with them.”

“Eh, where from? Who are they?” Tsunade said, pushing the tray that had held an empty pot of tea and cup away from her, setting the papers she had been reading down in the spot that had been cleared.

“I don’t know, his note didn’t say. The only other thing was this,” Shizune held out the rolled message so Tsunade could take it and read it.

“To ‘use the traditional room’,” Tsunade looked at her assistant with one eyebrow arched, and Shizune snapped to attention. “Get it ready, then, and find me when they get here.”

Shizune bowed and ran off, Tonton all but flying after her. Tsunade waited until the younger woman was well and truly gone before calling into the empty room, “Cat!”

The ANBU appeared almost instantaneously, knelt at the floor in front of her desk. “Shadow them,” was all she commanded, and the shinobi disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

She had fifteen minutes before Shizune reappeared, looking nervous. “Cat is waiting for you, and they’re almost here. The room is ready.”

Tsunade nodded and stood, followed Shizune out and down to where the old meeting rooms were. The room they entered was traditionally styled, with tatami and a tokonoma holding a fresh flower arrangement under the same old painting that had been hanging for years. Tsunade didn’t generally use the room, taking visitors in her office or the meeting room that Hiruzen had favored, but occasionally she did if they were more, for want of a better descriptor, “old-fashioned”.

Cat met her there while Shizune ran off to see that tea was being made and intercept Genma. “Two, male and female, likely married. Wearing kimono, no obvious signs of family or clan affiliation,” he rattled off, “From the Land of Water; they aren’t shinobi unless they are deeply undercover. Names unknown. Here to inquire after something, objective unknown.”

“Unlikely they are shinobi then,” Tsunade bit her thumb. “Watch but stay hidden. Have Mouse and Mule on standby.”

He nodded and disappeared as Shizune returned, now holding Tonton. “Tea is being prepared, I’ll bring them up now,” she said, leaving the small pig. Tsunade took her place on a zabuton facing the tokonoma, setting her hat carefully on the table so it would be the first thing the guests would see. Tonton stationed herself under the table, where nobody would see her.

Shizune knocked before opening the door, leading in a man and woman, both dressed formally in dark blue kimono. They looked rather unremarkable, with nearly matching stocky builds, dark brown hair, and dark skin. Like usual citizens of the Land of Water, not suspicious in the least.

“I thank for agreeing to meet with us, Hokage-sama,” the man said, bowing so his forehead was nearly touching the floor. “I am Kaito, and this is my wife, Koharu. We are of the Watanabe Clan of Land of Water.”

Tsunade nodded. She had heard of a Watanabe Clan previously, though they didn’t participate much in the politics of the Land of Water, nor the goings on of Kirigakure. Very little was known of them other than their existence. “To what do we owe this visit? Please, sit, and we will talk.” She gestured for Shizune to bring a tray of tea in and leave the room, but remain by the door.

“It is the matter of the clan that retains us, Hokage-sama, at whose request we came here,” Kaito turned to his wife, and she in turned pulled a folder out of the front of her obi and presented it to Tsunade. “Almost two decades ago the people in that photograph left the Land of Water and came here to settle in Konohagakure. It is them who we are looking for.”

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, opening the folder. A lone photograph was inside, and she pulled it out, delicately grabbing it by the edges. The photograph was noticeably old, taken in only black and white. Three figures were in it, a man and a woman standing together, the woman holding a baby that couldn’t have been more than two years old. Something about the adults was familiar, but she hadn’t been in the village at the time so she couldn’t know for sure who they were.

“What family—clan—did they come from? And why have you been sent to look for them?” Tsunade asked, placing the photograph atop the folder on the table and pouring them all tea.

“Hokage-sama,” Koharu was the one to speak, “We look because their child is the heir of the Umino Clan, and Umino Takumi-sama has taken ill. He wishes for the child to take over as head of the clan.”

Tsunade jerked the teapot up before the cup she was pouring overflowed, though it was a near thing. “The Umino Clan?” she carefully asked, putting the teapot down and giving each of the visitors a cup before taking the last as her own. She pushed the photograph to where they could see it and tapped the baby, and even though she had a feeling she already knew the answer, she asked, “Do you know the name of the child?”

“If I recall, it was a boy, and his name was Iruka,” Kaito said.

There was silence for a few moments. Tsunade very carefully took the photograph and stood after making up her mind. “I am sorry for ending our talk this quickly, but I know of who you speak, and I feel that it would be appropriate to contact him before we talk further. Shizune-san will find lodging for you for the duration of your stay here, and I will send a messenger with news once I have made contact with Umino-san. If you will excuse me.”

She left the visitors to Shizune, tapped the codes for Cat and Mule on the wall before she took off for her office. The ANBU caught up with her step for step at the first staircase, silent as ghosts as they flanked her.

“Mule, go to records, find everything on the Umino family living here in Konoha, and bring it to my office,” she ordered, and Mule nodded, disappearing. Tsunade waited until they were on the stairs up to her office before talking again.

“Go find Umino Iruka—he should be at the Academy this time of day. Bring him here,” she snapped, glancing down at the photograph as she walked down the last hall before her office. Her hand trembled, but she forced it still.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Iruka learns many things, and is altogether way too tired.

The children were being suspiciously quiet after lunch and Iruka was waiting for something to come of that silence when the door to his classroom slid open. Interruptions were normal—other teachers asking questions, parents pulling their kids or dropping them off—but a man wearing an ANBU mask painted to look as a cat was standing there. He signed ‘Hokage-tower-now’, and Iruka sighed.

“Everyone,” he called, standing. They were working on worksheets, or at least supposed to be doing that, and they all looked at him expectantly. “Class is ending early today, the worksheets you are working on will be due first thing once you get here on Monday. Remember, stay safe over the weekend!”

Cheers erupted and the kids almost plowed over the ANBU in their haste to leave the building. He flickered past them to Iruka’s desk, and once Iruka had cleaned the blackboard and packed up his things, he followed the masked man curiously out of the Academy across the grounds to the Tower, and up to the Hokage’s office.

Tsunade was at her desk, staring at something that was on the wooden plane in front of her. Her head snapped up when they entered, and she sharply nodded at Cat. The man disappeared, leaving the two of them alone.

Silence like a gorge extended between them. Iruka thought that maybe there was a paperwork problem, or at least something along those lines that he needed to help with, but from the expression on her face it was much bigger than that.

“Iruka, please, sit down,” she said, after a few moments. He did so, feeling something heavy begin to settle in his stomach. “I am sorry for calling you so abruptly from your duties but something very important emerged. Do you recognize the people in this photograph?”

She picked up the photograph that she had been looking at, passed it over the desk to him.

His breath abruptly stopped when he saw the people captured on it. “Wh-where did you get this?” he asked her.

The expression on her face changed to something unreadable, and she said, “It was given to me not an hour ago by two people from the Watanabe Clan of the Land of Water. They came to Konohagakure looking for you.”

“Me? Why?” he demanded, placing the photograph back on her desk so his shaking hands wouldn’t crease it.

Tsunade placed her hands one on top of the other, leaned her chin against her hands as she asked, “Iruka, do you know why your parents moved to Konohagakure?”

“They never told me—I assumed it had something to do with the hunting of those with kekkai genkai,” he said, watching somewhat helplessly as Tsunade nodded and tugged a file in front of her, flipping through it as he spoke.

“Your mother?” she asked, as if for confirmation. Iruka nodded. “Hm. The timing makes sense; in any case, your parents’ clan, and, by extension, your clan, has extended contact through the two Watanabe who are visiting. All that they have mentioned is that the current head of the Umino clan had fallen ill, and that they want you to take over as head of the clan.”

“I don’t,” he croaked, mouth suddenly dry, “want to do that.” He didn’t even know he still had family left; he surely didn’t remember them, in any case, and there was no way he wanted to leave Konohagakure to go head a family he didn’t remember.

Tsunade sighed, rocked back in her seat to look out one of the windows. “I expected that to be your answer. I cut my talk with them short to speak with you, but I would like for you to be present when we resume—and I will let you make the decision on when you feel ready to do that, Iruka.”

“Okay,” Iruka said, quiet. “Um, tomorrow?”

She looked at him with something like concern in her eyes, but nodded, “Come here when you are ready, I’ll take care of everything else.”

He nodded as well, unsteadily walked out of the office before body-flickering away to his apartment. He had to catch the wall before he fell over, he felt so faint on his feet. It took him a few minutes to unlock the door and disable the traps he kept up to prevent others from getting in, and Iruka barely kicked his sandals off before he was shaking too much to even stand.

He had _family_.

Adrenaline kept Iruka up all night. He managed a two-hour nap around midnight but other than that he was awake, miserably so.

Conceding defeat to his own biochemistry, Iruka did all of the laundry in his apartment, cleaned his bathroom, and went through his closet. About the time he would be waking up during the week, five o’clock or so, he remembered that he did need sustenance, and made himself breakfast. While he was aware that he would really regret not sleeping, at least he had his nutrition.

Iruka was still jittery when he left for the Tower at eight. Well, it wasn’t really _eight_ , per se, but he felt it was close enough, and Tsunade tended to always be there anyway.

Shizune was there, but barely awake. She had a tea tray in one hand and Tonton passed out in her other arm. When she saw Iruka she all but jumped to attention, nearly dropping the tray. “Ah, Iruka-sensei, the Hokage is in her office!”

Tsunade was in her office, heavily dosing the tea sitting on her desk with sake as she read through mission assignments. If she was a lesser person, she probably would’ve groaned when she saw Iruka, but as such her left eye merely twitched. “Sleep well?” she asked, arching one eyebrow.

He nodded sharply and remained standing while she finished assigning missions and stamped the last of the returned reports. “Shizune!” Tsunade bellowed when done, stacking the papers and pushing away from her desk to stand.

“Tsunade-sama?”

“Send a messenger to the Watanabe visitors, inform them that we are ready to meet now. The traditional room—make tea for four,” she snapped. Once Shizune was gone Tsunade tapped a code out on her desk, and the man wearing the cat mask appeared. “Cat, cover us same as yesterday. Add Boar to standby.”

He nodded and flickered out.

They walked down to the meeting rooms, Iruka a step behind Tsunade. They didn’t have long to wait; Shizune tapped on the door not five minutes after they had seated themselves.

Iruka sat at the table while Tsunade had the two visitors brought in. They bowed to Tsunade and turned to him, looking almost expectant. He didn’t know what to say, so he remained silent as they bowed to him, the man saying, “Umino Iruka-sama, it is an honor to meet you. I am Kaito of the Watanabe clan, and this is my wife, Koharu.”

He bowed in return, turning his attention back to Tsunade. She cleared her throat and gestured for Shizune to carry in the tea tray.

Once tea was poured and served, Tsunade was the first to speak. “I have informed Iruka of the reasons bringing you both to Konoha, and I would like to continue our talk from yesterday with him present.”

“We thank you, Hokage-sama,” Kaito said, dipping his head to her again. He turned his attention to Iruka and spoke, “Likely you have already been told that we wish for you to return to take over as head of the Umino Clan—what is your answer to that?”

“I do not wish to,” Iruka said honestly, his hands tight around his cup. “I never knew that I had family past my parents, and Konoha is my home now. I can’t imagine leaving.”

They exchanged a worried look.

“Even if that is the case, Umino-sama, Umino Takumi-sama would like for you to visit; your parents left when they were still young, and he had no contact with them after they successfully made it to the Land of Fire. He would—well, he would like to see what came of their life here in Konohagakure,” Koharu pleaded, her hands so tightly clasped on her lap that her fingers were turning white. “He—he does not have long left, and that would be enough to ease him.”

Iruka knew to be careful. Obviously they could claim that, but they didn’t exactly have proof of anything they were saying, other than the old photograph. But at the same time, just visiting wouldn’t be too much of a harm; he was a shinobi of Konohagakure, after all, and could take care of himself. He glanced at Tsunade, more a flick of his eyes than a movement, and once she had given a minute, tight-lipped nod he looked at Koharu and said, “I would be honored to visit my parents’ homeland.”

Both Koharu and Kaito’s faces lit up, and in perfect sync they bowed again. “We will be honored to travel with you.”

Kaito turned to Tsunade, asked, “Hokage-sama, I must contact those who will help us on our way back; with your permission, I will leave tonight to see about a boat at the Minato-Cho port.”

Tsunade considered that, and after a pause she nodded. “Do what you need; I will make my own arrangements. Please, enjoy the rest of your time in Konohagakure.”

Both of them stood and bowed to first Tsunade, then Iruka, and he felt an uncomfortable twinge to notice they bowed lower to him.

They made it nearly to the door before Koharu paused. “Oh, Umino-sama,” Koharu bowed again, drawing a folded and sealed paper from her obi and presenting it to him, “This was to be given to you. Umino Takumi-sama wrote it; what it says, we do not know. But he wished for you to read it before you come. And—if you could bring things, photographs, mementos of your parents’ lives here.”

Iruka accepted it, muttering his thanks. Once the two civilians were out of the room, Tsunade stood, beckoning him to do the same.

“You have two hours to make sure you want to go; think through this, Iruka,” she cautioned, “there may be more sinister workings at play.”

He nodded, the letter crumpled tight in his hand, and body-flickered away as she tapped a code on the table.

Instead of home he found himself at the Memorial Stone. It was quiet and breezy, browned leaves scattered across the ground, dancing with every lick of wind. Iruka paused before the stone, let his fingers brush the touch- and weather-worn names of his parents. He breathed, unfurled the fingers of his left hand and opened the letter in one swift movement.

The writing was shaky and thin, the work of somebody obviously not sound in body, but it was extremely formal and observed all of the normal conventions. There wasn’t much substance to it, other than some information on Umino Takumi. The man said he was 94 years old, and a bearer of the same Futton that Iruka’s mother had inherited. His way with words allowed him to write much but very little of it had meaning.

But the man sounded, for all intents and purposes, harmless. Iruka knew that Tsunade was probably going to expect him right in a couple of hours, but he flickered back to the Tower to find her.

Shizune once again let him in to the office, and Tsunade was surprised as he had expected when he said, “I will go. I don’t see any harm in it, and if I have any family left…” _I want to know them_. It went unsaid, and Tsunade smiled a little, nodded.

“It’s just for a few weeks, and I am sending a guard with you,” she said, flipping through personnel lists, “Think of this as a mission, Iruka. You leave in two days,” she then pulled up a schedule, scribbled on it with a pen, “and we will expect you back before the first of October. Now, you’d better go get packed—I’ll reassign someone to your class today, as well—drop any materials by here.”

Iruka nodded, and left. Even with somebody else in charge of his class, they would need his notes and the syllabus he was working from; those were in his apartment, so he stopped by to grab them and get them to the Tower before doing anything else.

Then, it was just the question of packing for a trip. A trip of unknown length to an island a week’s journey from the Land of Fire by ship. Iruka forced his resolve to stay firm. Going to visit would be fine—he wanted to know about his family.

So he packed, an easy enough task, at least until he walked out of his bedroom to find one Hatake Kakashi sitting on his couch idly looking at one of the many photo albums Iruka had pulled out to seal and take along.

“My, my, sensei, you seem to be doing some cleaning out,” Kakashi said, not even blinking when Iruka plucked the leather-bound album out of his hands and found a storage scroll on the bookshelf to store it in. “Packing for a trip?”

Iruka shot him a measured look. The way he said it made it seem as if he already knew, so Iruka just replied, “You could say that.” Best just to go by the assumption that Kakashi knew everything, anyway.

“Maa, sensei, don’t look so grim.”

“I feel like I’m packing up my life,” Iruka said, flipping through the pages of the photo albums before sealing the lot of them into the waiting scroll. He already had his necessities packed but putting together what was essentially documentation of his parents’ and his own life in Konohagakure made it feel like he really was leaving for good. Looking grim felt justified.

“Sensei, don’t think of it like that,” Kakashi said from where he was sitting on the couch, flipping through another one of the albums that still needed to be sealed. “It’s like a family reunion. You’ll be back.”

“I sure hope so,” Iruka muttered, taking the album from Kakashi and sealing it. It was the last one, and he couldn’t think of anything else he would need to take. Koharu and Kaito hadn’t exactly specified what he should bring, so he figured all of the pictures would be enough. There were a lot of them, anyway, because his father had been fanatical about documenting everything that they did, a trait that Iruka had picked up.

“If you don’t come back, anyway, Naruto will kill me, so it’s in all of our best interest that that happens,” Kakashi said, almost sounding like he was scolding Iruka.

Iruka took a deep, calming breath before turning to the other man, rolling the scroll back up. “Kakashi, why are you here?”

“A little bird told me that you were leaving,” Kakashi said, “and then the Hokage found me, so I figured I’d come on over.”

Iruka stopped and gave him the most confused look he could manage. Did that mean he was going with Iruka, or just being nosy? He was going to have another shinobi with him, because he was a citizen of Konohagakure and they didn’t want him to be kidnapped by people claiming to be his family.

Kakashi didn’t say anything, though, just smiled blandly through his mask and watched as Iruka packed the scroll into his bag. Iruka could feel the eyes on him, but he’d long since passed the point of being creeped out by Kakashi. The man mostly just annoyed him. Yes, he grown to be a good friend since the Chuunin Exams, and they did get along very well, but _still_.

“You do have people going with you,” Kakashi said, and his voice was more serious. Iruka looked back, found the man leaning forward, staring intently at him. “But you can’t be sure of their intentions, and given how close you are to Naruto—”

“—I’m a liability,” Iruka finished wearily. Kakashi looked vaguely annoyed at his choice of words, but let it slide.

“What did the letter say?” was what Kakashi asked next, his voice somewhat cautious. Iruka cast a dirty look in his direction—was nothing safe from the nosiness of Hatake Kakashi?

“It was written to me, and as such is personal,” Iruka said, in a somewhat snooty tone. He dropped that when he added, “It was—an introductory letter, I guess?” Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow at that. Iruka ignored him, instead asked, “What are you really doing here, then?”

“Iruka, you were skipping ramen. The least I could do was figure out why,” he returned, waving a hand. Iruka internally groaned. He had completely forgotten; they regularly had ramen whenever Kakashi didn’t have a mission, and he’d just gotten back a few days previous.

“Well, why didn’t you bring takeout?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Kakashi might be a little paranoid. But, really, all things considered? It's generally worked out for him.

Hatake Kakashi was naturally a pretty suspicious person. Hardly anyone who knew him was surprised by that fact, but most of them didn’t realize how deep it went. Case in point, as soon as he had scoped out Ichiraku and found it devoid of Iruka, who was a pretty big stickler for being on time, he knew that something was up. If something had come up, Iruka would’ve at least left him a note, and his mind had gone all the bad places at once.

His first instinct was to summon his ninken and hunt Iruka down, but that would involve questions from the dogs that he was frankly not prepared to answer, namely the question of why he was so freaked at thought of Iruka not showing up for dinner. The second best solution was, in his opinion, to go check the mission desk.

Where, predictably, Iruka was not. But the mission desk was the hotbed of gossip for the entirety of Konohagakure, and within minutes of arriving (and hiding in the ceiling, where nobody could sense him) Kakashi heard mention of Iruka.

“—no, Raidou said they were just civilians from the Land of Water,” he could place that voice—Kotetsu, the one who spent way too much time in the Standby Station, drinking pure syrup like a freak. “Iruka’s been talking to them, I guess.”

“Eh, why?” and Izumo. Of course, never one without the other.

“Nobody knows,” Kotetsu said, his voice somewhat hushed. There was silence for a few moments while they did actual work, and just as Kakashi was ready to leave and put his first plan back in action Kotetsu continued, voice still hushed, “Apparently he might be leaving with them, though.”

“No way, it’s  _ Iruka _ ,” Izumo scoffed. There was more shuffling of papers, but Kakashi stayed, feeling almost dependent on their conversation. Iruka?  _ Leaving _ ?

“But it’s super hush-hush,” Kotetsu argued, “Like, why would they keep it so secret if it wasn’t something bad?”

“Sure,” said Izumo, not exactly sounding sure, “But there’s no way the Hokage would let something bad happen.”

Kakashi thought, somewhat darkly, that none of them could be particularly sure of Tsunade’s motivations. So, obviously his  _ next _ course of action would be to talk to her. Tsunade was still in her office, working furiously through the stacks of paperwork she still had left. She didn’t even twitch when Kakashi came in through the window, and after a full minute of complete silence she asked, “Hatake, why are you here?”

“Where’s he going?” he asked without preamble.

“How the—” she turned around to glare at him, and anyone his lesser would’ve been cowed, but he remained staring at her. Tsunade sighed, restacked the papers and pulled the next stack to her. She began marking them as she said, “Land of Water.  _ Family _ matters, Hatake, nothing to do with you, I think.”

“Who’s going with him?” 

Tsunade turned again to eye him, one eyebrow raised. “That’s not for you to know. Are you volunteering, kid?”

She couldn’t see or feel the heat creeping up Kakashi’s neck but he still felt that she was judging him. He shrugged noncommittally, drawled, “Well, the Mizukage has issued statements discouraging travel there, for at least another year.”

“I know that,” Tsunade chided, stamping the last papers in rapid succession. “I’m sending Tenzou, for sure, but given the state in the Land of Water...well, it’s fortuitous that you showed up.” She pulled one of the blank mission forms out of her desk and wrote with a speed that Kakashi normally only saw of the over-stressed Chunnin managing the mission desk. She stamped the paper, signed it, and slammed it onto the surface of her desk closest to Kakashi. “Fortuitous because you are going with him, as well. Parameters there, I would recommend you go pack; you’re leaving in two days.”

Kakashi almost choked, but managed to cover the sound with a sigh at the last minute, swiping the form off her desk before heading back out the window. He read the paper as he headed for his apartment in the Jounin dorms, snorting while simultaneously feeling offended at the main thing that Tsunade had written. “Make sure he comes back alive or  _ I’ll _ have to deal with Naruto?” Kakashi muttered to himself, shoving his chakra into the traps on the window of his bedroom.

The thought of having to deal with Naruto in the event of Iruka not being in Konohagakure was not as painful as the initial thought of Iruka not coming back, all told. 

Hm. That was something to consider.

Kakashi let the seal on the paper go, and it dissolved in flames. Just escorting; he would need to talk to Tenzou, though, because from what Tsunade had written he knew more. That was first; after, he would visit Iruka.

The ANBU were scattered through the village, not living in the dorm buildings built for the shinobi of the village, but given subsidized housing among the civilians and other shinobi who chose not to live in the dorms. Kakashi was almost at that point, and as he flickered to the apartment building that Tenzou lived in, he internally sighed, wishing for that much space.

Tenzou was in, thankfully, and Kakashi could see him packing his away kit with obvious trepidation on his face. Kakashi perched on the tiny sill of of his window and waited until Tenzou noticed him. It was only a few moments, and then the other man let him in with a sigh.

“Senpai, what are you doing here?”

“I need information,” Kakashi said, somewhat steeling himself because as much as he loved Tenzou the man took his job very seriously, “on our trip.”

“Our…?” Tenzou paused, then nodded, “You’re coming with us.”

Always quick on the uptake. Kakashi was thankful that it was Tenzou, all said and done. They had a history, and they would be able to work together easily.

“What do you need to know?” Tenzou asked, sealing the scroll he was filling.

“The civilians?”

“Watanabe family, Koharu and Kaito,” Tenzou recited, pulling out his kunai and neatly placing them in a row to be sharpened. “No known affiliations to any hidden village, said to be pledged to the Umino family.”

Kakashi raised his eyebrow. Tenzou shrugged. “There’s no reason not to believe them, their papers were verified and official, they had a letter from the head of the Umino Clan, and they are not ninja.”

“Not even retired?”

“No, not a chance,” Tenzou shook his head. Of course, there were certain mannerisms that even the most elite of shinobi couldn’t quite lose after retirement. “Probably in their fifties, anyway. Kaito went to get a boat from Minato-Cho; likely it will take us three days to get to the port, and another week or so to the island, depending on the weather.”

Kakashi nodded. That was enough for now. He did better with first-hand observation, anyway, and it seemed they would be spending a lot of time together with the Watanabe civilians.

“Two days at dawn, then,” Kakashi said, going back to the window and climbing onto the sill. Tenzou sighed, put down the kunai he was sharpening, and said, “Please be on time, senpai.”

“What, me, be late?” Kakashi returned, slipping away and heading toward Iruka’s apartment.

After he’d been passive-aggressively forced to buy them both takeout, gleaned very little information from the man about what they were doing, and they had eaten, Kakashi jumped ship from Iruka’s apartment. He still had a full day to worry about the mission and he wanted to be as fully prepared as possible. Which, all told, was sort of difficult when he had no idea what could potentially be coming.

So it was the best of intentions that he spent the better part of the night cleaning his gear and generally not sleeping. He napped a bit around seven in the morning, but not for long, and not very effectively. It was enough, though, to get him through a day of menial tasks. Leaving for a month meant he needed to clean out his fridge, foist Mr. Ukki and the spider plant atop his fridge on someone (likely Gai), and actually close up his apartment so it would stay relatively clean in his absence. And he needed to find Sakura.

Sakura was the first thing. She had hours at the hospital every morning before she went to the Hokage Tower to work with Tsunade, and Kakashi went to find her with two things on his mind: food pills, and he needed to cancel their training hours.

He had been delighted to learn, a month or so after Naruto had left and Iruka had yelled at him no less than seven times to actually interact with the remaining member of his team, that Sakura had a vicious streak. She had been busy at the time, learning the basics of medical ninjutsu from Tsunade and training with Asuma’s team for the Chuunin Exams, and when he’d found her in between the two she had not hesitated to yell at him for disappearing. They had never been particularly close before first Sasuke, then Naruto had left, but with Iruka’s firm, albeit almost violent encouragement, Kakashi had begun to mend that relationship. They didn’t relate in the ways that Kakashi had with the boys, though Kakashi had difficulty relating to them as well.

But Sakura was grounded. She had good chakra control, an efficient type of ruthlessness that made her good as a medic-nin, and an affinity for both water- and earth-type ninjutsu. Kakashi was happy to leave most of her practical training to Tsunade, but the Hokage didn’t use much ninjutsu, so it was suiton and doton that he taught her, along with genjutsu training. Resistance to genjutsu was one of her strong points as well, and he strived to cultivate that. If she was resistant to nearly all genjutsu, in battle she would be all but unstoppable. That combined with the superhuman physical power she was working toward, and she would be terrifying to fight.

Thankfully, though, Sakura was not at that level yet and he could rest easy for at least a few more years. She was also fairly easy to find in the hospital, cluttering up an entire reading room with scrolls and books, a pot of tea and a half-full jar of umeboshi next to the spot of the floor she was inhabiting.

“Kakashi-sensei, if you need medical help please check yourself in at the medic station,” she said, popping one of the pickles into her mouth as she flipped a page, not even bothering to look up from the book.

“Ah, nerves again, Sakura-chan?” he asked, deducing from the bags under her eyes that nerves were the case.

She glowered at him over the book, eyed him from the top of his hair to the soles of his feet and said, “You’re not injured, so what do you need?”

“I’m going to be on a mission with Iruka-sensei for about a month,” Kakashi explained, because trying to do anything other than tell the truth did not work with Sakura.

“Food pills?” she asked, wrinkling her nose at him.

He shrugged. It was always possible that he might need them, and the ones that Sakura had almost perfected were better-tasting and longer-lasting than the standard ones they were given. Better to have them and not need them over the reverse.

“I have some in my locker,” she stood and yawned, putting a lid on the umeboshi and checking the teapot, which was empty. Sakura tucked it under one arm and weaved through the stacks of papers, slipped past Kakashi.

He followed her down the quiet hall to the room that held the lockers for the medic-nin working at the hospital and a break area. All she had to do was shove some chakra into the door of her locker and it popped open. She pulled out a tin of tea and a box that was behind it, shoved the box at Kakashi. “There’s at least a dozen in there,” she said, “I think. Take care of Iruka-sensei, he doesn’t go on many missions.”

That earned a crooked smile, and even if she couldn’t see most of his face she could tell from his eye that he was smiling. Sakura smiled a little in return, and Kakashi ruffled her hair after taking the box. “Thanks, Sakura, make sure you get sleep,” he said, body-flickering out as she huffed a laugh.

After he had the pills packed away the next item on the list was finding Gai. It was pretty damn likely that he was going to be with his team at the training ground, so that was the first place Kakashi checked.

Sure enough, Gai and Rock Lee were there, doing kata sets in perfect sync and gradually increasing speed. Gai seemed to realize that Kakashi was there and tried to hit him with a flying kick—easy enough to dodge—and when he saw the expression on Kakashi’s face, or lack thereof, he stopped. “Ah, my youthful rival, leaving again on a mission so soon?”

“A month,” Kakashi said, amending, “Or so. We don’t really know.”

Gai cocked an eyebrow before turning to his student and bellowing, “Lee! It is time to run! I will join you in a minute!”

“Yes, Gai-sensei!” the kid yelled, snapping a salute before taking off at a frankly obscene pace toward the village.

“Ahh, the vigor of youth!” Gai said, and before he could continue Kakashi butted in with, “I was wondering if you could take care of my plants.”

“I would be glad to!” he struck his signature pose, and it took all Kakashi had not to sigh. He followed Gai to back to his apartment, gave him the plants, and refused to answer any questions the other man had about his mission.

Gai dealt with, all he had left to do was clean out the fridge. He would need dinner and breakfast, but he had just gone shopping two days before and his fridge was full in the vain hope that he would get to have something like a break. Obviously that was not happening, and he had a whole lot of vegetables to take down to the orphanage. They could always use the food, and Kakashi wouldn’t feel guilty for throwing it all away.

All told, he was ready to leave by the early afternoon, fully packed and his chakra reserves full. His apartment was clean and ready for his absence. Kakashi took a minute to look around it, and sighed. It was tiny and cramped, and despite complaining about it he really had no reason to look for quarters outside of the ones given to him. But he put that out of his mind; he was going to be leaving, and he needed to stay alert. After making up the last of the food in his fridge he ate, and went to bed.

If either Tenzou or Iruka were surprised at his timely appearance at the front gate the next morning, they said nothing. He even made it there before Koharu showed up.  She was not exactly what he expected, short and well-dressed in kimono, a pack on her back and a walking stick in one hand. Three people seemed to be what she expected, but she still gave Kakashi and Tenzou once-overs with her eyes, inspecting each of them carefully before bowing and saying, “I am glad to meet you both. I am Koharu of the Watanabe family, I hope that our journey goes well.”

Tenzou bowed in return and said, “I am Tenzou, and this is Hatake Kakashi. Thank you for allowing us to travel with you.”

Kakashi perfunctorily bowed as well, let her take the lead. Genma and Raidou did little more than stare at them as they left, and behind Iruka and Koharu, Kakashi and Tenzou shared a look. What the hell were they getting into?

The trip to the coast did not feel long, though it took them three days. They stuck to the pace that Koharu dictated, as the only civilian, but she was by no means slow. In fact, they arrived in Minato-Cho quite early in the day, much earlier than planned. They went immediately to the inn Kaito was staying at and, upon finding him, were informed that the boat they would be taking was ready to leave whenever they were.

It was a bit of a relief to go to the port and get their documents looked over and actually be on their way, all told. The boat they were taking was adequately large, and Kaito told them as they boarded, “Merchants. We’ll have plenty of room, though, and the skies have been clear; no typhoons in sight. We should make good time, according to the captain, a week at most.”

A week on a boat, another spent on the island, and ten days back. Kakashi really hoped that that schedule would keep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traveling, and talking, but not really learning much.

Minato-Cho was large, one of the largest ports of the Land of Fire, and Iruka had very little time to look around it. As soon as they found the inn Kaito was staying at and talked to the man, they headed down to port itself, to the fishing and merchant vessels and those who worked them. The breezes coming off the ocean were heady and strong, smelling of fish and salt, and it felt somehow achingly familiar to Iruka.

When he was still young, before the Kyuubi’s attack and his parents’ deaths, they had visited the coast often. Memories of his childhood were full of the calls of seabirds, the touch of sand on his feet, and the smiles of his parents. Minato-Cho called him back to that time, and even though he tried to stay focused on what the others were talking about, his attention was drawn by the ocean.

He didn’t even find it embarrassing when Kakashi had to grab his wrist to make sure that he didn’t get left behind in the bustle of the docks. They threaded through the crowds and ended up at a large merchant junk already ready to go, fully loaded with cargo and crew. Their papers were checked, and as they ascended to the deck, and Kaito called back, “Merchants. We’ll have plenty of room, though, and the skies have been clear; no typhoons in sight. We should make good time, according to the captain, a week at most.”

“What are they selling?” asked Tenzou, who was in front of Kakashi and behind the other two.

“We sell silk and cotton,” a woman called from further up the deck, a smile on her face as she made her way toward them, bowing as she came to a stop before Koharu and Kaito “Honored to meet you all, I am Mizushima Haruka, I captain this ship. The fabric is made into kimono on Moku-jima, and then we return and take the kimono to be sold here and in the Land of Lightning. Please, make yourselves at home while you are aboard this boat.”

They introduced themselves in return, and once they were settled, preparations were made to get underway, and in another three hours they were out of the high traffic of the port, had hit the open ocean, and were gone from the Land of Fire.

The first three days of their journey by ship passed as quickly as the earlier walking had. Iruka didn’t know much of what the others did because he spent so much of it on the deck, watching the clouds and the birds and the water. The fourth day clouds began to come up on them, not yet dark but still looming. Haruka found him perched almost on the bow of the boat, relishing in the clean air even though the others had tried to convince him to stay belowdecks. 

“We’re making good time,” she said, leaning against the railing. “Should be out of these clouds by tomorrow, at any rate.”

“On time?” Iruka asked.

“Early, actually,” she pointed to an island northeast of them, “There are three islands grouped right there. Usually we pass by them on our fourth day out. Perhaps you fellows are good luck.” She said the last with a smile.

“Perhaps,” Iruka returned, a small smile on his own face, turning his attention back to the water and the vast openness. Some of the albatrosses that glided along the ocean were wheeling above them, the dark ashy black of their coverts and flight feathers showing how little they moved, riding on the wind. Haruka stayed next to him for a while, also watching the birds, before speaking again.

“They are said to live as long as humans,” her voice was quiet, her eyes focused on the birds.

“My mother,” Iruka said, “used to tell me about them, how they could fly for months without setting down on land.”

Haruka made a sound of agreement, and after a few more minutes of watching, she turned and left.

The fourth day it was as Haruka had said; the clouds moved north and once again there was endless blue above and around the junk. Gulls had found the boat in the night and were roosted all along the main sail, pooping indiscriminately despite Haruka and the crew’s scattered attempts to scare them off.

Iruka found Koharu at the bow of the ship, where he had been the day before, drinking tea as she watched the gulls squawk at each other. “I bet you don’t get gulls in Konohagakure,” she said, giving him a tired smile when he leaned against the railing next to her.

“No, too far inland,” he replied, watching the birds as well, “some roost by the river, but it doesn’t get that close to the village.”

They passed a few minutes in silence while the crew worked around the deck, Tenzou and Kakashi drifting near them, talking quietly with each other as they usually did.

“So,” Iruka began, “you know my family?”

“Yes, I’ve lived with them for most of my life,” Koharu said.

“Can you,” Iruka hesitated for a moment, “can you tell me about them?”

“Your family?” Koharu looked up at the sky and smiled, “Of course. Since you don’t know anything there’s a lot to tell. Hm, where to begin…do you remember the valley?”

Iruka shook his head. He’d not even been three years old when they had left; the only thing he remembered was the gentle smell of flowers, but that could’ve been from when they had made it to Konohagakure. His mother had always kept a flower garden.

“The valley itself is not quite as big as Konohagakure, much smaller than Kirigakure,” she said, nostalgia coloring her words, “Misty in the mornings, sometimes for the whole day if the weather is right—and plants everywhere. It’s surrounded by bamboo—the cutters sell it to be made into bows and food. Inside there are all sorts of flowers. It has been told to me that Umino Manami, who founded the clan, loved flowers, and always wished for there to be flowers surrounding her family’s home.

“We grow tea, the highest quality pearl tea. It’s still growing season—only about four months are not the growing season,” she continued, mimicking the rolling of the tea leaves, the ghost of a smile on her face, “It is quiet, even when the children are playing—the family isn’t large, but there’s also us, the Watanabe, and some others who like the quiet.

“Maybe a hundred, a hundred and fifty people, all told, during the harvest. Thirty less over the winter, but still a lot, like its own village.”

She fell silent for a few moments, watching as the birds took back off into the wide blue of the ocean. Iruka took the chance to send a glare at Kakashi, who was listening in but so far had not been noticed by Koharu. She spoke again, “The Umino have been living there for over two hundred years, since before the hidden villages were formed. Started by Umino Manami, your ancestor.

“Few leave, to go to Kirigakure or other places,” she said, and she spoke quieter after, enough so that Kakashi gave up his farce of not listening in and turned his attention to her as well, when she continued, “Umino-sama took ill around this time last year; he has been in very good health for his age, but considering how old he is, it was not much of a surprise. He had, oh, eight children—your father was the only boy.”

“My father?” Iruka asked. Well, it made sense for them to be related if the family wanted Iruka to take over as head, but that meant—

“Yes, that makes him your grandfather,” she said, still quiet. “He has, oh, fifteen grandchildren, counting you. Only nine—perhaps eight—live at the compound, with some of their children as well. And Umino Same-sama’s children also live there, with their children. Umino Minou-sama never had children, but she lives in the compound as well.”

“If there are so many grandchildren, why me?” Iruka asked. The family seemed vigorous enough without dragging him away from Konohagakure; something about it didn’t really add up.

“Oh,” Koharu almost winced, said, “I will not try to explain that to you; it’s, uh, quite complicated, especially since we aren’t part of the family.”

“Yes, best to let your aunts explain that,” Kaito walked up to them, Haruka following behind him. “Dear, the captain was wondering if you could tell her about your gardening.”

Koharu patted Iruka’s shoulder and went to join her husband and Haruka in an animated conversation about vegetables and their growing, leaving Iruka and Kakashi standing next to each other, Tenzou a couple feet away. One hand-sign from Kakashi, and Tenzou walked over to them.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Tenzou said as soon as the others had moved away and the three of them were relatively alone. Despite how little he knew Tenzou, Iruka trusted him, and he couldn’t help but agree. All of what they had been told painted a very idyllic picture, but parts of it were already not adding up, and being told to wait for answers was not helping them to be less suspicious or wary of where they were going and what they might be getting into.

“If they won’t tell us any thing more, short of interrogating them, there’s nothing more we can do,” Kakashi said, voice low, and Iruka almost rolled his eyes. Of course Kakashi was probably thinking of doing that. But, really, there was nothing they  _ could  _ do except wait it out. Even if more questions were raised by the time they made it to Moku-jima, they would be more likely to be answered there. “In any case, all of us need to remain ready to go at any time. Tenzou—” The other man nodded, and they moved away to continue talking in low voices.

Iruka sighed, leaned back against the railing once more. He was fine with Kakashi and Tenzou doing their own thing but he did feel out of the loop on both sides. There was no use getting upset, though, he scolded himself. The flutter of white and black wings caught his eye, then, and he looked up to find one lone gull landing back down on the sail, it’s wind-ruffled wings smoothing as it settled.

The fifth day they ran into more clouds, and most of the day was colored by a fine drizzle of rain. The lone gull moved to the mast once they had the sail battened down, and Iruka sat on the deck for nearly three hours in his poncho, watching it. Kakashi eventually appeared to drag him out of the water and wind, and they and Tenzou played a few rather vicious rounds of hanafuda with increasingly bizarre rules. Iruka watched the other two play a few games of Koi-Koi after that, Kakashi losing pretty dramatically each time.

By the time he was falling asleep that night, not quite sure what hour it was, a thought struck him. He was going to miss being with Kakashi and Tenzou once they were back in Konoha, Tenzou back to being an ANBU agent (they might not’ve told him anything, but Iruka didn’t have a reputation or an S-Rank clearance for nothing) and Kakashi back to taking any and all missions that came across Tsunade’s desk. Huh, he almost felt sad about that.

Their final day on the boat started damned early, when the lookout bellowed for land before dawn had even really broken. It was still an hour or two away, and as they moved closer and closer they passed by all manner of fishing boats, out since the dark of night to get the day’s catch. 

Stepping foot on Moku-jima was like going back in time. The village they landed in was large, the largest port city on the island, Haruka told them, but still it was less than half the size of Konohagakure. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, it was more rustic, the buildings done all in traditional styles and a set of towering torii standing down in the water past one of the beaches. Despite the early hour, there were people bustling about along the market that faced the ocean, nearly all wearing kimono, and not sparing a glance for the junk that just made port.

There were people waiting to meet the boat with pull carts for the fabric and other wares that were stored belowdecks. Iruka’s party weaved through them, and once they were free of the docks Koharu called, “If we make good time, we should reach the valley by mid-afternoon. Don’t get lost!”

Iruka found himself being glared at by Kakashi at that, though he didn’t know why. He’d just been overwhelmed at Minato-Cho, that was all, it wasn’t as if he was a little child prone to getting lost. But then Kakashi once again grabbed his wrist, and despite the butterflies in his stomach Iruka didn’t particularly mind.

Once they were free of the city, Kakashi released him to fall back and talk to Yamato, and Koharu fell back as well to keep him company. “There is only the mountain and the hills, and then we will be there,” she said to him after a few minutes of silence, a smile growing on her face, “And then we will be home.”

He chose not to address the “we” in that statement, instead asking, “Are they still harvesting?”

“Oh, yes,” Koharu answered, smile still wide, “They must be finishing nibancha, and sanbancha is coming soon, and then one more after that.”

“Very big harvest, this year,” Kaito added from his place in front of them, before he started whistling. 

The whistling took them from the outskirts of the city to nearly halfway up the mountain that Koharu had mentioned. They stopped there, at a shrine hidden back in the trees a ways, to rest for a few minutes before continuing on their way.

It was warm and humid, but not uncomfortably so. While in Konohagakure the weather was already cool, autumn in the southern part of the Land of Water was more an extension of summer. It was pleasant, yes, but also strange, as if they had stepped out of the normal run of time.

The descent from the mountain into the hills only heightened that feeling. There were countless birds and animals making noise in the forest surrounding them, from small wild pigs to strange little animals with black and white ringed tails. But the forest was nothing once they had reached the bamboo, towering along the very edges of the road, and past it the fields, and the houses.

“It’s beautiful here,” Iruka said, his eyes wide as he took in the fields of tea plants that surrounded the complex of fenced-in buildings. Children flew kites in the high grass surrounding the complex, shouting at the rokkaku as they danced in the sky. 

“We are thankful that you think so,” Kaito said, taking the lead and heading down from the hill, down the stone path that wove through the fields. “Ah, Hitode-san is waiting for us. She sees after the day-to-day running of the household—there, in the sky blue kimono.”

The woman she had pointed out looked very like Iruka, he would admit, the same brown hair, though going grey with age, and dark skin, her eyes not as dark as his but very similar in shape. She was willowy though, lightly built and tall, at least fifty years old, and she talked animatedly with several others, presumably relatives from how similar they looked as well. As they made it to the valley floor, she turned to watch them for a moment, before going inside one of the buildings.

They slowed as they continued through the fields, almost overwhelmed by the number of tea plants. Teams of people wearing work clothes were slowly working through the plants, some groups mulching and some groups harvesting, calling to each other, and stealing furtive glances at the people going to the houses.

“Hitode-san!” Koharu called when they were closing in on the compound, and she came out of the building followed by another woman, older and hunched, in a beautiful red-brown kimono with hand-painted cranes on the bottom. When Koharu saw her she abruptly stopped and bowed, deeply. “Minou-sama, it is an honor.”

The rest of them stopped when she did, Kaito bowing as well. Iruka and the others remained as they were, confused. Koharu had mentioned a ‘Umino Minou-sama’ when she had talked to them, and it seemed that the woman had a high status in the family, but that was all they knew.

“Minou-sama,” Koharu straightened and turned to the other three, gestured them forward, “This is Iruka-san, the son of Ikakku-san and Kohari-san, who went to Konohagakure.”

“My glasses, child,” Minou said to Hitode, and once the small spectacles were perched on her nose, she looked over Iruka before nodding. “You will do. Please, follow me.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Iruka could learn everyone's names. Does he want to, though? Not particularly.

Iruka followed Minou, unease rising in his stomach like bile as Hitode gestured for Koharu and Kaito to lead Kakashi and Tenzou somewhere else. He calmed himself with the thought that, if something was to happen, he could probably successfully fight until Kakashi or Tenzou or both met up with him. But it didn’t ease the fear much.

Hitode remained behind him as they walked toward what he assumed was the main house, from how large it was. There wasn’t much ornamentation apart from brass caps shaped ocean birds on the spouts of the gutters, and a similar brass cap atop the point of the house’s roof in the shape of a carp. A line of koinobori fluttered, discolored from being out in the sun, on one corner post.

The inside of the house was open and simple, and Minou led him and Hitode back, through it at the same slow pace she had taken outside. Outside of a room enclosed in fusuma painted with sweeping ocean scenes, Hitode stopped, bowing slightly to Minou.

The unease kicked up to panic at that, but he remained as calm as he could, followed the old woman into the room. It was dim and smelled faintly of incense, and the main feature of the room was a large bed. Well, he assumed it was a bed, because it was strangely built at an angle, so whoever laying in it would be naturally propped up. Lavishly covered in embroidered blankets, Iruka only noticed that someone was indeed laying in it when the person in question spoke.

“Minou, is that you?” the voice was thin and tired, and were it not for his training as a shinobi Iruka would’ve jumped. There was no indication, upon first entering the room, that anyone was inhabiting it. The person weakly coughed and it finally registered to Iruka that, whoever it was, they were laid on the bed, all but buried in the blankets.

“Yes, brother, it’s me,” Minou said. She went to the chair waiting next to the bed and sat, gestured for Iruka to stand next to her. “The Watanabe have returned.”

“The boy?” the man asked, and Iruka realized that this must be Umino Takumi, his grandfather.

It didn’t feel like that though. He felt no relation to the thin, wrinkled man laying on the bed, a hand shaking as he held it out toward Minou. At one time Iruka would have found some resemblance between them, but the man on the bed was haggard and pale, cataracts clouding his eyes and his hair thin and white. Indeed, the only sign of relation he could see between Takumi and his own parents was the thin moustache above the man’s upper lip.

“He’s here,” she said, leaned forward to help Takumi up a little in lieu of tugging Iruka down. She gestured to him, “Here, brother.”

Iruka really didn’t see how the old man would be able to see him in the darkness, but he stayed still while the man on the bed rose slowly and peered at him.

“Mm,” a pleased sort of expression came over the man’s wrinkled face. “Very like Ikkaku.” Minou nodded, and helped him lay back down, fussing over the blankets for a few moments, and rubbing his back when he began coughing, a hacking, painful sound.

Iruka felt awkward.

It was lessened a little when Takumi asked, “Boy, how old are you?”

“Twenty-three,” Iruka looked nervously from Takumi to Minou. He couldn’t tell what either of them were thinking, their faces blank.

“Hm, plenty old, then,” Takumi said, nodding, and the panic was there again, the awkwardness back. “He will do. Bring in the Watanabe.”

Minou led Iruka back to the door, ushering him out to where Hitode was waiting, Koharu and Kaito behind her. Hitode likewise ushered him past the other two, back out of the house to the empty courtyard. “Please, follow me,” she said, heading past him, back further into the compound.

Even if Iruka was uncomfortable, he did take the chance to appreciate the walk. There were flowers everywhere, as Koharu had said, though he guessed that earlier in the year there would be more. Persimmon trees lined a sprawling pond, the koi within it swirling around like orange and red and white ghosts, being oohed and aahed at by a crowd of small children. Here and there were signs of autumn—browning leaves, dry grass. A young woman was sweeping in front of a simply built shrine, and children and adults were pulling in the kites that had been flying.

“You will be staying in the main guest house for the time being,” Hitode finally spoke, gesturing back into the compound a ways, to a building that Iruka couldn’t yet see. She gestured around as she spoke, “The compound is large, but you should find your way easy enough. If you do become lost, it is easy enough to just look for the fields and follow them.

“There should be plenty of roo—oh, lord,” Hitode said, sounding somewhat faint, a hand pressed to her breast. Iruka looked where she was staring, at the fields, but couldn’t see anything but a young woman walking slowly down the path, a large wooden box on her back, topped with a bedroll and pack with other bags hanging off of it. Hitode sighed heavily, and turned back to the main house, and the boy sitting on the amado there, “Tako—Tako, go find your mother, Tamago’s coming.”

“Eh?” the boy looked up from the shoji screens he was fixing, “Tamago?”

Hitode had a sour look on her face as she gestured out to the fields, where the woman had paused to talk to some of the laborers. The group laughed, and she continued down to the houses. Tako left as soon as he saw her, raced inside of the building yelling for someone.

“I’m sorry about that,” Hitode said, a somewhat strained look on her face that smoothed into a bland smile as she turned back to Iruka, “this entire affair has turned into a family reunion of sorts; you’ll be introduced to everyone in due time. This way is the guest house, and as I was saying,” she led him back to a large house, older than most of the other buildings but in pristine condition, “there should be adequate room for all of you. I believe your, uh, escorts have already been settled. The compound and valley are free for you to traverse, the bath house is right there,” she pointed north, past the guest house to another large structure, “with an onsen behind it. I would recommend not going past the onsen, however, as the land is not very stable. I will leave you for now; someone will come to bring you to dinner.”

He nodded and entered the house, immediately running into Kakashi and Tenzou. Kakashi grabbed him and he was dragged back to one of the interior rooms, unable to even get his sandals off.

“Something’s off here,” Tenzou said once they were alone. Kakashi nodded, and something about his posture gave off an air of catty irritation, though he didn’t drop Iruka’s hand, and instead gripped it tighter.

“Nobody talked to us once the Watanabe brought us here,” Tenzou continued, frowning, “They said you were going to meet Takumi.”

“I did,” Iruka said, acutely aware of Kakashi probably unconsciously beginning to worry the back of his hand with one thumb. “That was all, he welcomed me.”

“How ill  _ is _ he?” Kakashi asked, less irritated but still rubbing Iruka’s hand.

“He’s almost blind. Cataracts,” Iruka said, “weak, coughing. I’d say consumption but I don’t really know. I only have basic medical training, but I can tell he isn’t doing well.”

“And the Watanabe?” Tenzou asked, “They left toward the house you went into after bringing us here.”

“Talking to him right now,” Iruka said, feeling somewhat at a loss when Kakashi abruptly let go of his hand.

“Hm,” Tenzou wandered around the room a little, frowning, “hopefully they can explain why we are here.”

They stood in silence for a few moments before there was a loud slam from the front of the house. Iruka made it out only a moment behind Kakashi and Tenzou.

Standing in front of the house, presumably the one who had slammed the door open, was the young woman carrying the box who Hitode had been less than pleased to see. Hitode was behind her, and Tako, the young man who had been fixing shoji, behind her. The newcomer was in a heated but quiet conversation with the woman, and her voice rose enough for them to hear, “There  _ is  _ a room for you in the house.”

“Don’t try and make it up to me, Hitode, I know when I’m not exactly wanted.”

“Tamago—” Hitode almost looked disappointed, until she noticed Iruka and the others. Blankness dropped over her face like a mask.

“Don’t bother,” the young woman said sharply, hitching her thumbs under the straps of the box. “Ika is going to be here in less than an hour; she can have the room. These are her things, here. Tako?” The boy ran up, and she turned to him, sliding the box off her shoulders, “Take these to the room she will be staying in. Not—I’ll take that pack, it’s mine. The rest is hers, be gentle.”

“So, I will be staying in the guest house; as long as that puts none of you out,” she turned and addressed Iruka, who finally noticed that Kakashi and Tenzou had stepped out of the building.

“That should not be a problem, there’s plenty of room,” Iruka said, before Hitode could step back into the conversation. The woman—Tamago—gave him a wan smile, let the three of them go inside before following.

“I’m sorry you all had to hear that,” she said once she was inside, sitting to untie her waraji. Kakashi and Tenzou were communicating through hand-signs, but Iruka ignored them as she turned her attention to him again, “You must be Iruka?”

“Yes,” he answered. She seemed decent and hadn’t given him any reason to distrust her yet, so he saw no harm in being truthful.

“Well, it is nice to meet you, Iruka-san,” she hung her sandals, dusted off her hands and held one out. He took it and shook it. “I am Tamago, I suppose we’re cousins. And they are…?”

“Tenzou,” Tenzou said, shaking her hand as well, and then politely gesturing to Kakashi, “This is Hatake Kakashi.”

“Lovely to meet you all. Though, I suppose, not under these circumstances so much,” she said, hefting her bag up onto her shoulder. “I will only be staying for three days, so I hope not to impose on you all; is the southernmost room still available?”

They all got as settled as possible, considering the circumstances. Kakashi and Tenzou had already searched the entire house, and it was a general feeling between the three of them that the entire compound had best be searched, but the cover of night was probably a better choice for digging around. Thankfully, they didn’t have to waste too much time before a girl wearing a mustard-yellow kimono found them, bringing news of dinner.

Outside, it was chaos. A woman wearing a lavish gold and purple kimono was ordering a quartet of young men and women to deal with some luggage, and around them children yelled and chased each other. More people came out of the houses, mingling in with the children, and Iruka was only pulled away from the spectacle by Kakashi muttering, “Why does she have bodyguards?”

“That’s Ika,” Tamago said, walking up. She was wearing a neat dark blue yukata instead of the dusty clothes she had traveled in, and she pointed people out as she spoke, “our cousin. Her mother is Chikako; she’s wearing yellow. The one in the mauve kimono is Ika’s sister Kaori. Ika is a rather popular enka singer in Kirigakure, hence the bodyguards.”

“Green kimono?” Tenzou asked, coming up beside Iruka and peering at the gathering of people.

“Aunt Umigame, she’s the third oldest. She’s decent, but don’t get on her bad side. All of those children are her—her grandkids, I think. Gods, they’ve gotten big. Rust kimono is, huh, Maguro,” Tamago said, surprise coloring her tone. “I wonder if he brought Asuka.”

At the blank looks on the other twos’ faces she elaborated, “Maguro was in the Land of Earth, last I heard. His older sister—Asuka—was with him. Carpenters, I think? You’d best ask somebody else, I’m wildly out of the loop. They’re also your—our—cousins.”

“Do I actually have to remember all of these people’s names?” Iruka muttered. And, yes, he was generally good about learning names, it came with the territory when one was a teacher. Spending only a week with over a hundred new people, though? He wasn’t very inclined to work hard at it.

Tamago chuckled, “Don’t worry about it. Hell, I grew up here and I don’t remember most of their names, let alone who I’m actually related to. Nobody will mind.”

“Hey, oh, you’re Mika’s daughter, right?” came a voice from behind them, and a short woman with Iruka’s build and perfectly white hair rounded on Tamago.

“It’s Tamago, aunt Koraru,” Tamago protested, letting the woman pull her into a hug. When released, Tamago turned the short woman so she could see Iruka, and said, “This is Iruka, he’s Ikkaku and Kohari’s kid.”

“Oh-ho?” the expression on Koraru’s face was one of ecstatic delight, and she turned to bellow to the crowd in general, “Ikkaku’s kid is here, did you all know?”

The panic that had left after reuniting with Kakashi and Tenzou and meeting Tamago returned with a vengeance, and Iruka desperately wished that he could disappear into nothingness rather than be stared at by his own, extremely interested, family.

It was only made worse when they made it to dinner, which is something he thought he would never think after being passed around from his aunts to his cousins to his cousins’ children. Because dinner, to his horror, was one of those multiple-long-tables and everyone-in-the-same-room affairs. It was rowdy and the atmosphere was nearly obnoxious until Minou appeared to preside over them, but even then the three of them were getting so many sidelong glances that Kakashi looked murderous and Tenzou looked more uncomfortable than anyone should be. Years of experience dealing with both Jounin and pre-Genin gave Iruka one hell of a poker face, but by the time they were able to bow out it was beginning to crack. It was a relief to be out in the cool air of the evening after that.

“How,” Kakashi said, as they were alone and making their way back to the guest house, “are we supposed to survive for a week.” There was a somewhat stricken look on his face, and Iruka would’ve laughed if he hadn’t felt the same way.

“Technically a week and a day,” Tenzou said, “We got here early. Did you hear what the ladies at the front of the room were talking about?”

“My aunts?” Iruka asked, and knew that, by the expression on Tenzou’s face, it wasn’t good. “No, I didn’t.”

“Well, they were talking about, uh, marriage,” Tenzou said, fully looking at Iruka, worry on his normally placid face, “ _ your _ marriage.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking, talking, and, yes, more talking. Kakashi goes digging for information, Tenzou picks some up as well.

Kakashi had to admit that the valley was a particular kind of beautiful. It was—it was like a nostalgic dream of paradise, seeming ephemeral but in fact real. Despite that, though, he hated it. Maybe it was petty of him, but the fact remained: with only one exception, Hatake Kakashi hated the Umino and the valley that they lived in.

He had volunteered to scope out the compound, if only to get some air after the disaster that was their evening meal and not because he didn’t want to hear Tenzou and Iruka talk about how Iruka’s aunts were apparently planning his marriage. Definitely not that.

Okay, it was that, he admitted to himself once he was outside. The night air was cooler than the day had been, but not by much. Enough cooler, though, that it did wonders to cool him off and give him some perspective. It seemed fairly likely that Iruka’s family simply didn’t know why he had agreed to come visit. Kaito had mentioned that he had tried to send a bird from Minato-Cho, but storms had prevented him from doing so before they had left the port city. Once they were on their way he didn’t have access to any birds with which to send a message, and he had told Kakashi and Tenzou that he intended to speak to Takumi before anything could be assumed or taken out of hand. Kakashi had a reasonable amount of trust in the man and his wife from their days traveling together that they would see it through.

Most of the houses in the compound were dark as he made his way around, chakra masked and footsteps silent. It was easy enough to slip around; while the family did have a kekkai genkai, most of them were trained only enough to keep control of themselves. Another thing that he and Tenzou had talked with Kaito and Koharu about was that, specifically, the Futton that was found in the Umino family. Iruka didn’t have it, and Kakashi guessed the majority of the members of the family likewise did not. That was how kekkai genkai worked, after all.

They did need to know more about it, Kakashi mused as he flitted from one building to another. If things were to turn sour, they might be faced with the Futton users, though he desperately hoped their trip wouldn’t devolve into that.

All of the houses on the southern fence were quiet and dark, but Kakashi’s hopes that it would be the same way for the rest of the compound were dashed when he noticed two houses in a row with lights still visible. It was easy enough to get close to each house in turn, the first with its inhabitants merely talking about the food for the next day, the next house’s inhabitants similarly talking about the next day’s work.

The third house with lights still inside, though, held more than just innocent conversation. He didn’t recognize the speakers, but their topic of choice was Iruka.

“—apparently he didn’t even know he had more family. What was Ikkaku thinking?” a voice that Kakashi didn’t particularly like said.

“Don’t say that. Kohari was worried—rightfully so, I might add—that had they stayed she and her son would be targeted,” another, kinder sounding voice said, somewhat sharp with reprimand. “They were not the only ones to leave.”

“But they were the only ones not to return,” the first voice said, and Kakashi really wanted to move on but something like anger was rooting him atop the roof, so he continued to listen in.

“They had a life there, not to mention that Ikkaku and Kohari both died only a few years after they left. The Land of Fire was his home.”

“And yet he comes here to be made head of a family that he doesn’t even know,” whoever it was, they sounded disgusted at that, and Kakashi had to stop himself from grabbing a kunai and breaking into the house.

“You act as if you know everything. Go to bed, I do not want to have to deal with you like this tomorrow,” the other voice said, with a sharp finality to it. Kakashi stayed for a few seconds more, cooling his heels before moving on. The other houses were dark, and any other conversations were not ones he could could hear.

That was something he was thankful for.

Both Iruka and Tenzou were still awake when he returned, Iruka sitting on the back porch in a yukata, a cup of tea in his hands. Tenzou was inside, and that was where Kakashi went rather than linger outside and potentially do something he might regret. Like murder a civilian. Or talk to Iruka.

“As Koharu said, around a hundred and fifty people,” Kakashi said, folding his legs and sitting on the tatami. They each had their own rooms, with a common area in the middle of them all, and that was where Tenzou had been sitting. “Some trained ninja—average chakra levels for civilians, though, except for those bodyguards.”

“Would they be trouble?” Tenzou asked, looking up from what he was writing.

“Together, maybe, especially since we don’t know their abilities,” Kakashi said, “but on their own they wouldn’t be a problem.”

Tenzou made a little ‘hrm’ sound in his throat, went back to his writing. They remained, Tenzou writing, Kakashi reading one of the books he had brought along, until Iruka went to bed, only then going to their own rooms. Kakashi slept very little. He generally slept lightly anyway, but being in a completely new place and surrounded by people he did not trust meant that he managed to take probably three hour-long naps before he admitted defeat. He also had a feeling that the other two didn’t sleep very well, either, after that evening.

Early was when he decided to actually be awake. Koharu and Kaito had showed them the kitchen in the guest house, and explained that there was food with which they could make breakfast—the only meal that was not taken together in the main house—so he started enough for the three of them, plus some more in case the woman, Tamago, joined them. 

It was sort of a marvel. He wasn’t angry after sleeping, mostly just resigned. All they had to do was survive the following six days and the journey back to Konohagakure, simply put. And despite what those in the compound said, Kakashi knew Iruka, knew that even the stay wouldn’t be able to convince him to leave Konohagakure for his new-found family. It was, frankly, a fucking relief to be so sure of that.

Iruka dragged himself into the kitchen before Tenzou, mutely started water for tea and a pan for tamagoyaki. Kakashi badly wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of anything appropriate. They stayed in silence until Tenzou made his way in and said good morning, looking more awake than Kakashi felt.

Halfway through eating, Tamago showed up, looking bushy-tailed compared to the rest of them. She declined the offer of food, saying she had been awake since much earlier and had already eaten, but she stayed at the table and talked with Iruka a little while Tenzou and Kakashi coordinated, through handsigns, their gameplan for the day. The most important thing was figuring out why marriage had been discussed the night before, and the answer to Iruka’s question on the boat—why him?

At the same time though, Kakashi found himself not wanting Iruka to be alone. They still weren’t completely sure of the family’s motivations, and it at least would make  _ Kakashi  _ feel better, so he, in his unofficial status as point on the mission, assigned Tenzou to do just that.

Kakashi found himself alone in the kitchen with Tamago after breakfast, the perfect opportunity to do some information digging, while they were washing and drying the dishes. He had a feeling that she was one of the few trained ninja in the compound, so he broke the silence as gently as he could, hoping her genial demeanor would last.

“You left dinner early last night.”

“Mm?” she looked at him, her eyes as wide and doe-y as Iruka’s, catching him only slightly off-guard.

“You missed all the talk of marriage, though we also left pretty quickly,” Kakashi continued, drying the last pan and putting it back in its cupboard. Awkward segue, but it worked pretty effectively.

“Oh, yes, that,” Tamago frowned, “I don’t know why the topic came up, because, as you said, I left dinner before you all did to take Aunt Koraru back to her house. Her legs were acting up. Apparently Aunt Hitode started that, but that’s just what Aunt Koraru said and she may’ve made that bit up.”

“Why are they…?” Kakashi asked, the question trailing off as the woman pulled a tea set from one of the cupboards, filled a wooden tub with water and began placing the pieces of earthenware into it one by one.

“I don’t know what they are planning, if that’s what you’re wondering,” she said, sounding almost disappointed at that herself. “I mean, I know some things about this whole affair, but marriage...no, it would be best to ask someone else who has kept better contact.”

“What do you know about the whole thing to get Iruka to come here?” Kakashi asked. Tamago had proven herself to be rather knowledgeable and even trustworthy to a point, and she didn’t seem to be particularly involved with the family squabbles. He felt rather safe asking her, all things considered. She pulled the glasses and pot out of the water before she spoke again.

“Not much. Grandfather wants him to inherit, he’s here to visit, and I’m guessing it’s only that, for a visit,” Tamago said, wiping the glasses clean and placing them one by one on the tray, “Ika’s going to be over in about a quarter hour, she does know more than I do since she lives so much closer. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind speaking to you.”

Kakashi thought about it for a moment, and nodded. Ika had been down at dinner with her bodyguards and they had passed the meal in silence. She seemed no nonsense, and if she would give him information he wouldn’t mind having to talk to her.

“Then, would you mind going and fetching some water? Ika is very proper about these things, I would hate to disappoint her.”

He fetched the water, and then was forced to be an errand runner further, to his dismay, picking up a box of wagashi from the main house (from a very furtive pair of children who looked to be twins, wearing matching gold-and-red kimonos) and a hemp basket of various fruits from a young woman wearing shrine maiden gear feeding the koi in the pond. Minutes after Tamago had deemed the spread acceptable, and started the water actually boiling for tea, Ika swirled into the guest house, two of her bodyguards following her.

“Cousin!” Tamago called, abandoned Kakashi to finish making the tea, sweeping the woman first into a hug, then into the room she had prepared, with the sweets already set out. The bodyguards followed, and Kakashi after them with the tea, feeling a little disgruntled.

Tamago, thankfully, took the tea from him and gestured for him to sit. Ika was on the other side of the round table, a pleased almost-smile on her face as Tamago poured out tea. She didn’t look much like the rest of the family, other than her dark skin. Where everyone else had brown hair, hers was silky black, and she held herself with an air of elegance that nobody else from the family could imitate.

(arguably, a small part of his mind said, Iruka did, when he was away from the Academy and Konohagakure, when first impressions mattered, not that he  _ watched _ him or something)

“Hatake-san, was it?” she inquired, and that snapped him out of his thoughts on Iruka pretty effectively. He inclined his head a little in acknowledgement. “Honored to meet you, though I must say, what I have heard of Kakashi of the Copy Wheel Eye is not exactly flattering, nor particularly realistic.”

“Sometimes lies are a very effective deterrent,” Kakashi said wryly, accepting a cup of tea.

“Oh, that’s good,” Ika laughed, a clear sound. “And very true.”

“Like that lie that you seduce men and kill them?” Tamago snorted out.

“Or that we were born in a volcano because we steam,” Ika laughed back at her in return. Kakashi got the distinct feeling that they were referring to some past jokes just between the two of them, so didn’t comment.

“I’m sorry, Hatake-san, Tamago mentioned that you wanted to know more about why Iruka was being searched for,” Ika said, after drinking some tea. “I do tend to listen to the family gossip, so I probably know more than she does. I should start out by saying that it is quite complicated.”

“Not so,” Tamago said, “It seems quite simple to me, taking out all that old stuff.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it. There are reasons for this, and they’re important to know,” Ika said, matter-of-fact, and she turned to point a finger at her bodyguards in turn, “If either of you gossip about this I’m disowning you. Family secrets.”

“They aren’t really secrets, though,” Tamago protested, pouring more tea, “they’re just—”

“—not talked about at all for familial reasons?” Ika asked, looking very self-satisfied when Tamago sighed and nodded. “Don’t worry about it too much; I feel that we can trust everyone in this room, at least a little.”

Kakashi just raised an eyebrow at that, and she chuckled, “It’s nothing particularly bad, just outdated opinions and the inner workings of the clan, the stuff that people used to be secretive about. Grandfather has ideas that are very traditional in some families, but not so much for the Umino. You see, we were founded by Umino Manami, who came here two hundred years ago. A  _ woman _ ,” Ika stressed, tapping the table with one long, dark purple fingernail. “Up until he inherited, it was handed down to the eldest daughter.

“Same-san, though, and her husband, both died before she could succeed Great-Grandmother. Went sailing in a storm, never came back. She was our great-aunt, the oldest. Minou-baasan was gone at the time, training to be a priestess, so grandfather was chosen to inherit. Tradition got sort of thrown out, but Great-Grandmother always intended for him to have his oldest daughter inherit,” Ika plucked a sweet from the tray and nibbled on it.

“That’s Koraru,” Tamago interjected. “She has to be nearly seventy.”

“Seventy three,” Ika nodded, “so everyone naturally assumed that her eldest daughter would inherit,  _ that’s _ Kamome, I don’t believe you will have met her, though, mother said she was returning today or tomorrow. She’s still in her thirties, though, the perfect age to become head.

“So when grandfather started talking about Ikkaku and calling his son back to live here five or so years ago, well,” she shook her head and took a sip of tea, “some wanted him to come, some didn’t. Hence, the meeting today.”

“Meeting?” Kakashi asked, a question echoed by Tamago.

“Yes, mother said that Minou-baasan called one, they’re probably done by now,” Ika replied, “and, Tamago, I need to talk with you about a certain young woman.”

Tamago gave her a vicious look, turned to Kakashi, “I’m sorry, but that’s as much help as we can both be, I guess.”

“It was helpful, thank you for speaking with me,” Kakashi said, with full sincerity, to both women. The bodyguards gave him twin looks of suspicion as he departed, heading back around to the other side of the house. Things were beginning to make more sense, but he needed to talk to Tenzou.

So his first point of rendezvous was with Tenzou, who was watching Iruka and Koraru talk by the pond with something like a wince on his face.

“They had a meeting, apparently,” he said, when he turned to look at Kakashi, “with Minou. Koharu stopped by to say that everyone knows why Iruka is here, now.”

“And that we’ll be leaving in six days?”

Tenzou nodded, looked worried. Kakashi wished that would stop; every time Tenzou looked worried Kakashi wanted to wrap him up in a blanket and go deal with whatever was causing a headache for him. “I don’t know how everyone took it, though,” he tipped his head toward the two on the bench. Iruka was laughing out loud at something the woman had said, his face crinkled delightfully in the sun.

He was so focused on memorizing every laugh line on Iruka’s face that Tenzou had to literally smack him to get his attention again. “What?”

“Senpai,” Tenzou sighed, though his face was less worried and more amused, if one knew what to look for, “I was saying, Koraru-san mentioned that she was fine with Iruka’s decision, and she’d stay on his side.”

“Stay on his…?”

“There are, er, problems,” Tenzou said. “That we weren’t expecting.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that, which earned a sigh. Sounded like Tenzou had learned similar information to him. “I don’t know the specifics, Koraru-san didn’t say much, but apparently the family has split. Some still want Iruka to inherit, despite him not wanting to, and some—”

“Kamome, right?” Kakashi tucked his hands into his pockets as Tenzou looked at him with surprise.

“Yes,” he said, “She came in half an hour ago, has been holed up in the main house. She’s to stay here, in the guest house, as well.”

“I think we might need to shadow him,” Kakashi said, after a few moments of thought, “Iruka. I talked to Tamago, and I’m guessing what she said is roughly what you’ve heard from Koraru. The family has been split for a while, apparently.”

“What are we going to do?” Tenzou asked.

“Keep him safe. Leave when we’re supposed to, and go home.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Food poisoning, family traditions, and obligatory scheming. Iruka begins to think he probably should not trust anyone.

The compound was quiet and breezy in the morning, and though Iruka had gotten only a few hours of sleep, he felt awake and alert after breakfast. Breakfast, which had been a little awkward but nonetheless quietly pleasant. Iruka had nothing in mind for the rest of the day after that other than maybe going around the compound to see what the place looked like.

He got his wish almost immediately after breakfast, when he and Tenzou left Kakashi in the guest house and took off to wander through the houses. Every so often Tenzou would pause and pull a tiny notebook out of one of his pockets, scribble something down while staring at a house they had just passed.

Architecture. Interesting, Iruka considered, but then again the architecture of some of the buildings was interesting in itself. Their construction methods spanned a couple centuries and at least a dozen different styles, leaving the entire place a delightful mishmash of houses built up around each other. There were some signs, hand painted or carved, denoting food storage, a tiny medical clinic, storage houses for the tea. It was quaint yet bustling with children underfoot and adults going about their day.

Iruka could easily imagine how somebody would want to stay. The place was peaceful, not packed with people, and quiet. Everyone they passed smiled or waved, introduced themselves before moving on, and Iruka felt like the two of them fit in, despite being outsiders.

Despite how welcome he felt, however, Iruka could never imagine himself living on the island, with the family. He was used to noise, to the never-ending attitude of Konohagakure, and maybe after years he would get used to the silence but it was not a hypothesis that he wanted to test. Even then his home was in the Land of Fire, with the people he was not related to but still was family of. He would not leave his home of years.

Iruka was having a grand time, though, seeing everything, until they were back by the pond and the guest house and Iruka remembered the night before, their walk back to the house after dinner. Sort of a mood-killer, but he tried not to let it show. Tenzou had enough to worry about. They all had enough to worry about, without thinking about the evening before.

They were about to re-enter the guest house when a voice called, “Iruka-kun!”

Tenzou immediately looked ready to fight, but when they turned it was just to find Koraru approaching them, waving so they would see her. It took the woman a couple minutes to reach them, so stately a pace she was going, and Tenzou was practically vibrating in anticipation behind Iruka when she finally did.

“Oh, good, I was able to catch you. I wanted to notify you of a meeting that was just held,” she said. “It was about you, with Watanabe-san and his wife. He notified the family of your reasons for coming here; I wanted to assure you that any plans of my sisters will no longer continue in that light.”

“The mentions of marriage we heard last evening?” Tenzou asked, and Iruka held back a grimace, wishing that that particular topic hadn’t been mentioned again.

“The very same, they should leave you alone,” Koraru said nodding. Her face sported the very grimace Iruka hadn’t allowed himself. “And I am extremely sorry for that, I thought their talk would’ve scared you off into the night. I am glad you are here, though, I wished to speak with you, Iruka-kun.”

Iruka looked to Tenzou, and when their eyes met the man nodded and continued to the guest house. “The bench?” Iruka asked, gesturing to the mentioned place. Nobody else was around the pond, and they would be able to talk in relative silence. Kamome nodded, and took his arm as they walked over and sat.

Koraru patted his hand and settled into her chosen seat, said, “Please, I wanted you to tell me about Konohagakure. I have never been there, nor heard stories of it. Few travelers come to this island, particularly so far into it.”

“I’d love to,” Iruka said, and he genuinely meant it. “What do you want to know?”

“Hm, how about what it looks like? Kaito-kun mentioned there’s a massive wall around it,” she said.

“Yes, there is a wall,” Iruka huffed out a laugh, “It goes around the whole village, I don’t even know how tall it is.”

“To keep others out, or those living there in?” she teased.

“Probably both,” he said with a wry smile, “You wouldn’t believe the sorts of things people in Konohagakure get up to.”

They ended up talking about Konohagakure for nearly two hours, sitting out in the sun. Iruka found himself actually enjoying it, enjoying the company of the older woman. She told him a few stories in return, about the family and the island, nothing too serious, nothing about his parents. A part of Iruka really wanted to ask about them, but he also very much did not want to. He was content to learn about Koraru’s family and the others who lived in the valley.

It was well into the afternoon before Iruka and Koraru headed their separate ways, Koraru to see how harvesting was going, and Iruka to meet up with Tenzou and Kakashi again. They weren’t hard to find, just sitting out on the engawa of guest house near where Iruka had been, heads together as they talked over Tenzou’s tiny notebook. Nothing that they shared with Iruka, which was annoying.

With the compound investigated and most of the family identified, there wasn’t much for them to do. Tenzou must have been extremely bored, because after an hour of watching Kakashi read and scribbling in his notebook, the man approached Iruka and said, “It has been told to me that you are practiced in using seals, Iruka-san.”

“Oh, some, I guess,” Iruka said, only for Kakashi to interrupt, “He’s the closest thing to a seals master that we have short of Jiraiya, don’t let him pull that on you.”

Iruka reddened, and shot a glare at Kakashi. While it may have been true, Iruka personally felt that he wasn’t particularly knowledgeable on the subject. Despite having spent ten years of his life doing seal and barrier work, he still had a lot to learn. That drew him back to Tenzou’s initial statement, and he asked, “Why were you wondering?”

So, with some occasional commentary from Kakashi, the two of them descended into an animated discussion about the development of medical-related seals that were being researched by a team at the hospital. Then the conversation turned to Iruka’s own research into seals (“Uzumaki seals,” he said, and Kakashi eyed him with renewed interest), what Jiraiya could be up to with Naruto, and what in the hell they were supposed to do for the rest of their stay.

The last thread of conversation was interrupted, though they really hadn’t come up with anything good in the first place (Tenzou had suggested “learn more of the history”, Kakashi had suggested “leave”). Tamago stuck her head into the room they were lazing in, looking flustered.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to notify you all that I have to leave. Work matters that need seeing to. It was very nice to meet you all, and I hope the rest of your stay and your journey back to the Land of Fire both go well,” she said, not pausing at all for anyone to get a word in edgewise. “Farewell, and be careful what you eat!”

“Bye?” Iruka said as she slid the door back closed and departed. Kakashi and Tenzou shared one of their looks, and they returned to their discussion.

Dinner, they were told half an hour after Tamago had departed, still having not come up with things to do, was to be a formal affair in a room of the main house. Iruka felt leery about the whole thing. A formal dinner should’ve happened their first evening, and the order being changed like that didn’t sit well with him. A small comfort was that there were few other trained ninja in the place, and if need be Iruka had faith that he and Tenzou and Kakashi could fight their way out.

He desperately hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Hitode dropped by the house to try and tempt Iruka into wearing a kimono—an offer he didn’t feel bad about somewhat ungraciously declining—and when a girl showed up to take them to dinner, it was with anxiety and in clean blacks that all three Konohagakure shinobi followed. They weren’t particularly out of place, some of those who were already seated were not wearing kimono.

That was stress-relieving in itself, but they still had the whole meal to sit through. It was a whole new level of horrible compared to the night before, quiet and stiffly formal. The only reason he made it past the first course was because Kakashi suddenly took his hand and held on like Iruka was the only reason he wasn’t killing people. The entire thing was very disconcerting and it was a relief when they were allowed to leave, even if it was only over to Kamome’s to have tea.

Iruka didn’t want to agree to it, but he felt he owed these people who were his family something, even just a little of his time. Halfway between the main house and Kamome’s house, their plans were abruptly canceled when Kakashi, already having let go of Iruka’s hand when they left the main house, grabbed the same hand again and tugged him off the path into some conveniently placed bushes and trees, tugged his face mask down, and proceeded to vomit.

Only momentarily shocked by seeing Kakashi’s actual, human face (tan line included, he was dazzlingly cute despite the vomit), Iruka popped out of their cover to find Tenzou similarly incapacitated on the other side of the path, being watched by a very concerned man in a wine-colored kimono. Maguro, Iruka’s mind helpfully supplied as he helped Kakashi stand back up and get his mask back over his face. The man had introduced himself when Tenzou and Iruka had toured the compound.

“Do you need some help?” Maguro asked when Iruka and Kakashi emerged from the undergrowth.

“Please,” Iruka said, with something like desperation in his voice.

Iruka got Kakashi back to the guest house on his own, and Maguro followed with Tenzou on his back. They moved both of the futons the men had used nights previous to Iruka’s room before putting them to bed. Maguro disappeared, reappeared a few minutes after with two matching buckets, setting one next to each futon.

“Sorry for making you,” Iruka said with a grimace, gestured to the unconscious men, “help with this.”

“No problem,” the younger man said, wiping his hands on his pants. When he spoke again his voice was genuinely surprised, “That happened quickly, were they ill when you got here?”

“No, it’s almost as if, I don’t know, they have food poisoning or something,” Iruka returned, his voice quiet.

Food poisoning. Of all the things that have gone wrong, Iruka wasn’t even surprised at that. Suspicious? Maybe. But not surprised in the least. At least it meant that Tamago had been telling the truth, in a way, before she had left. He really wished she hadn’t left early, despite needing to go. She had a level head and probably could’ve helped them deal with the entire iceberg they had inadvertently crashed into.

The most telling thing, really, was that nobody else was ill. Admittedly, only about half of the main family had shown up or been invited to dinner, but that was still around thirty people. He racked his brain but for the life of him could not remember who had served them or ushered them to the table they had sat at. Damnit, Iruka, he scolded himself, he was a shinobi of Konohagakure, he was supposed to notice this stuff.

“Why did Tamago have to go?” he asked, hoping that Maguro would know.

“Work,” the man said, shrugged, “don’t know more than that. She’s very, well, not _secretive_ , but personal about that sort of stuff. Doesn’t spend too much time with the family.”

Iruka nodded. He got that, especially with all that was going on. “I’ll bring over some—some food and stuff, you’re probably running out, and I’ll see if I can find anything that they’ll be able to keep down,” Maguro crooked a thumb toward the unconscious shinobi on the floor.

Iruka nodded again, a relieved smile breaking onto his face. One less thing to worry about.

Well, relatively. He still had to worry about making sure that they did eat, didn’t puke everywhere, and got sleep. There wasn’t much else to do if someone had food poisoning, if that was what they did have.

So Maguro left, and Iruka was left all but alone. Somebody had mentioned that a newcomer would be staying at the guest house, but nobody else was in the building. That was more of a relief, though.

Iruka kept moving so he wouldn’t have a moment to stop and think any more about it. He made sure that Kakashi and Tenzou were tucked in, built a thin barrier that both men would be able to leave it they needed to, and went to make up some broth and okayu.

Maguro reappeared when he did, silently made a couple of trips to re-stock the refrigerator in the house while Iruka worked. The last trip he arrived with a young woman in tow, who Iruka recognized from the night before as Ika’s sister, Kaori. She had a pack slung over her shoulder, and a concerned look on her face.

“Iruka-san,” she bowed to him, “I’m a medic, a trained medic, ‘guro mentioned that they were ill? Only them?” Iruka nodded cautiously, looked at Maguro only to be given an encouraging nod.

“Yes, only them,” Iruka said, stepping back and pulling down the barrier so she could enter the room as well, see the men sleeping on their respective futons. Content that he would be able to sense if she was doing something bad to them, Iruka turned again to Maguro, an inquisitive look on his face.

“I mentioned I was bringing food over here and,” Maguro sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers, “it’s very difficult to say no to her, and I figured it’d be better if I came with.”

“A medic?” Iruka asked.

“She trained in Kirigakure, came back before she could graduate and become an actual shinobi. She knows what she’s doing,” Maguro shrugged.

“Okay.” It wasn’t like Iruka could really not trust Maguro at that point.

Kaori interrupted whatever else Maguro was going to say when she approached them, a frown on her face. “This isn’t food poisoning. Given the physical signs they’re presenting,” she paused, asked, “Have either of them vomited?”

“Just once, both of them, before we got them here,” Iruka said. “Why?”

“Hm,” she tapped her chin with one finger, “Well, given the physical signs they’re presenting, as I was saying, they’ve been drugged.”

“Drugged?” Iruka and Maguro chorused.

“There’s a couple plants that grow on the island that, if eaten, present symptoms such as these,” Kaori said, stepping and turning to look at the comatose men, “in any case, since they just ate a couple hours ago at dinner and that was likely when they were dosed, they should be fine by the morning. If you would like, I can stay in case this takes a turn for the worse?”

Iruka smiled weakly at her, “I would appreciate that, thank you.”

He finished up the food he had been cooking and pack it away into the refrigerator, stopping in to tell Kaori about it before heading outside to get some air. It was late but he didn’t feel tired, still on-edge and wary of anything else that might come.

So, when he saw a girl standing in the near darkness watching him intently, his first instinct was to throw a kunai at her. He did not do that. Instead Iruka remained near the house, watching her.

After a few moments, the girl looked around with a furtive glance, crooked a finger in a way that meant “Come here.” Iruka glanced around, made sure nobody could be watching, and hurried over to her, followed her into the shrine building, back through the main room, and into a small inner room hidden behind a very large painting of a phoenix in flight.

Two others were already there, Maguro, and the woman who had just arrived that day, Kamome. He entered with some trepidation. Since it was growing increasingly apparent that he didn’t know who he could trust, he didn’t exactly feel safe in the room. The girl opened a tiny closet, pulled out pillows enough for all of them to sit on, then gestured for everyone to do just that.

“I’m sorry for the cloak and dagger nature of this meeting,” Kamome said, as an opener, tipping her head in apologetic acknowledgment toward Iruka, “But the secrecy is necessary, if all of you hadn’t noticed. I’m sorry, I know we haven’t been properly introduced.”

“Kamome, right?” the girl asked hesitantly. She looked around and blushed, “Oh, sorry, I am Umino Momoko, please call me Momo. I am in charge of the shrine, here. My sister, Nanako, is coming back from the port tomorrow.”

“Yes, I am Kamome,” the woman smiled, a thin thing that was more exhausted than anything else.

“Iruka,” he volunteered, and once Maguro had likewise said his name Kamome spoke again.

“Right, as for the reason we are all here. I have heard that you do not wish to take over as head of the clan,” Kamome addressed Iruka directly, and he nodded. “Then, it will likely despair you to know that several of our aunts have been laying plans to force you into that.”

“More plans?” Iruka asked, because after Koraru’s talk earlier in the day he knew about the marriage scheming.

“Yes,” she looked about as thrilled as he felt, “they intend to have you participate in a rather old family tradition as a ‘welcome’ or something, when in reality, it is something that binds one to the clan.”

“The cave,” Momo muttered, staring at Kamome with sharp eyes. “Is it really what they intend?”

“You know more about it?” Kamome asked. “I just know what Chikako told me, and that was not much.”

“It’s a challenge,” she said, but then almost immediately corrected, “well, no, not really. I suppose the problem is that this is sort of a secret, and the experiences of those who go through it are likewise secret.”

“So, what does it entail?” Maguro was the one to ask. Iruka was grateful for that, because he was beginning to feel sort of green about the whole thing and didn’t particularly trust himself to speak. At least it wasn’t actual food poisoning or actual poisoning, he thought darkly to himself.

“Well, uh, if I’m remembering correctly,” Momo ran a hand absently through her bobbed hair, “there’s a cave, back in the trees behind the hot springs—no bamboo back there, it’s basically a sheer cliff face because of the mountains—and those who are chosen to inherit go into it, and when they emerge they are unable to leave the island. Don’t know if that’s true, though.”

“That’s it?” Kamome asked, somewhat skeptical.

“Well, that’s what I was saying, nobody knows. Great-grandfather did not have to, because it was an emergency and his mother was on her deathbed at the time, and other than that it’s supposed to be a personal experience, I guess,” Momo said. She shrugged. “Family traditions.”

“A family tradition that will keep you here even though you do not wish to stay,” Kamome said, turning to Iruka, “however, I have an idea where everyone will get what they want. You go to the cave, I switch with you there, I emerge as the next clan head, and you are not bound to stay here.” Iruka nodded slowly. He didn’t particularly care either way who became head, and Kamome seemed to at least be practical. He decided to trust the other three, at least for the moment.

“Details?” Maguro asked, and Kamome shook her head.

“All I know is they intend to do this in three, no, two now, days, in the evening.”

“I’d be happy to do that,” Iruka said.

“Then we should try and find out more,” Momo stretched but remained seated. “We need to have a solid plan in place.” They all found themselves nodded, and there were a few minutes of silence.

“Has anyone ever...not survived it?” Iruka asked, because of course he had to know.

“Uh, our great-great-grandmother’s older sister,” Momo began, paused and chewed on her thumb for a few moments before continuing, “It isn’t exactly written about but I’ve heard stories. Apparently she went in, came out, and disappeared a week after. She left behind a note merely to say that her sister was to inherit, not herself. They never found her. Some other ones from further in the past mention vaguely stuff such as that, the chosen going mad upon their emergence from the cave, disappearing. But overall, maybe three in total.”

“And we’ve had, what, ten or so family heads?” Kamome asked, a frown tugging her small eyebrows together, “That’s still a third of them, gods.”

“And two-thirds chance,” Iruka reminds her. “That’s our best chance, anyway. Is there any sort of ritual, before, or after?”

Momo thought on that for a few minutes, before helplessly shrugging, “I’ll have to check the scrolls. Since there hasn’t been one in so long, it’s hard to say. And it’s hard to say if we’ll do it the same as they used to.”

Kamome stood, stretched. She hefted Maguro up, then Iruka, then Momo. “You should look into that, Momo. We’ll need to meet again to consider our timeline.”

“I’ll test the waters, see what others think,” Maguro said, and Kamome nodded. “Once Nana gets back tomorrow we should be good to go, though.”

“Two days?” Iruka asked. The other three nodded, and they all left the cramped room in single file, split toward their respective houses. Iruka’s first stop was to check on Tenzou and Kakashi, thankfully both still comatose. Kaori said the drug would work its way out of their systems by the next morning, and Iruka hoped so. He didn’t want to face what was coming alone.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi is pretty goddamn sick of the island and people as a whole at this point. At least he still has his ninken and Tenzou.

Kakashi was delirious. He was acutely aware of that fact when he woke up, remembering nothing of the past day after eating dinner. At least, he hoped it had only been a day, though for all he knew it could’ve been a few hours or a few weeks.

His mouth felt like moldy carpet and his head pounded as he opened his eyes to the low lighting of of the indoor room. The ceiling, when eventually his eyes decided to focus, was moving, expanding and contracting. Kakashi heaved out a breath, thankful that it was muffled by his mask even though said mask smelled like a mix of sweat and vomit.

A head hovered into his line of sight, moving slowly and carefully. “Hatake-san,” the head said, as it slowly came into focus and began to look a little familiar, “my name is Kaori. You met me yesterday. Do you feel well enough to sit up?”

He considered that, and after a few moments nodded very slowly. She leaned forward and said, as she put an arm around his shoulders heave him up, “I’m going to go get you some water, and if you can keep that down you’re going to have some broth and gruel as well. Is that okay?”

He dumbly nodded again, and once she let him go and went into a different room he looked around. It was most definitely not the room he had taken in the guest house, but it was still the guest house. The room finally stopped spinning and he slowly glanced around. There was a futon not a meter away from him, and if the brown hair sticking out of it was anything to go by, Tenzou was the one occupying it. That was one accounted for, Kakashi’s sluggish brain counted. He turned again, but there was nobody else in the room. Maybe Iruka was somewhere else. Hopefully he wasn’t sick, too.

Kakashi frowned. Sick? The way his head was pounding and how his stomach was twisting suggested dehydration and probably, from the the smell of vomit, that he was either poisoned or suffering from poison’s more benign cousin, food poisoning. He hoped that it was the latter, though it was probably the former. He’d had food poisoning before, and it didn’t usually make him loopy. Trying to dredge up memories of their meal didn’t help; his head felt like it was filled with a very thick fog.

All thoughts, even those he was trying to grasp, fled his mind when the woman returned with a tray. She set it on the floor and put a glass of water in Kakashi’s hand, pointedly turned away to press a hand against Tenzou’s forehead to check his temperature while Kakashi drank.

Kaori left after a few moments, a frown on her face, and Kakashi took the opportunity to finish the glass of water she had given him, take the other glass of water that was on the tray and down that too. With all deliberation, of course, he didn’t want to throw the water back up immediately after swallowing it. The water did wonders, though. His mind began to clear and after a few minutes the room was no longer swam any time he moved.

When Kaori returned Kakashi was up on his feet, tray in hand. She raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything until the both of them were outside the room, heading to the kitchen.

“Tenzou-san must’ve got a bigger dose than you,” she sounded worried as she took the tray and directed him to the table.

“A dose?” he asked, warily watching her retrieve a pan and a bowl from the refrigerator. Speaking felt rough, and that combined with the smell of his mask was basically confirmation that he had thrown up.

“Looking at all of the physical symptoms, you both seem to have been given a relative of the clematis last night at dinner. It’s native to the island and it being in your food couldn’t have been a mistake,” she said.  _ You both _ . That was good, that meant that Iruka was fine, and last night meant it had only been a matter of hours. “Do you happen to remember anything in particular that you and Tenzou-san ate and Iruka-san did not?”

Even if he was feeling a little more clear-minded, he couldn’t exactly call to mind any memories of the evening before. He vaguely remembered that, since the meal had been formal, they had been given several courses of food, but what they had been made up of he could not recall. And even then, he hadn’t eaten much. “Nothing that I recall,” Kakashi said.

The frown-lines between her eyebrows deepened, and she remained quiet as she finished reheating some broth and okayu. “Iruka-san made this,” she said, placing the food in front of him and levelling a measured look at him. “And you need to eat it. You threw everything you ate at dinner up, if what I heard is true. I’ll be in the other room.”

Kakashi frowned as he ate, but he did eat. The food was bland but filling, and he ate with the same slowness the water had received. After eating he would need to clean up and get the full story of the evening before from Iruka or Kaori. That was another thing, though, now that he was on his feet and feeling like he was actually alive—he couldn’t sense Iruka anywhere nearby. He could sense Tenzou and the woman, Kaori, inside of the house, but nobody else around for a ways. Hell, he didn’t even know what the time was. Iruka might have been coerced into a meeting with his aunts or cousins or something else that was perfectly normal and not worth the amount of stress that Kakashi was feeling.

He washed his dishes once he was through, slipped into the room he had originally claimed as his own to check that all of his belongings were still there (they were) and get a fresh set of clothes. Soaking was something he didn’t bother to do, in the tiny bathroom near the room he had slept in instead of trekking to the bath house. Once he was fully cleaned and no longer smelling of vomit or sweat, he returned to that room to find Tenzou still sleeping and Kaori frowning.

“Where is Iruka?” Kakashi led with, dropping his packs into one corner. No point in leaving them in a different room. He planned to go get Tenzou’s as soon as he had an answer.

“He was meeting with Kamome-san,” she said, after fetching a cloth to wipe Tenzou’s face with. “They must’ve gotten busy with something; neither he nor Maguro have been back.”

Kakashi hesitantly nodded at that, went to fetch Tenzou’s things. 

When he returned Iruka was back, kneeling next to Kaori with his head close to hers, talking quietly and rapidly. Kaori looked puzzled, which was probably an understatement, but when Kakashi had set down Tenzou’s pack and turned to look fully at Iruka, he understood her confusion. Unless he was still delirious (which, he knew, he was not at that point), the person kneeling there near Tenzou was not Iruka. Something about the way they held themselves was wrong for Iruka.

He was interrupted from doing anything by sound coming from Tenzou, a low groan. Kaori’s eyes widened, and Kakashi was torn.

Whatever decision he had been seconds away from making was made for him a moment later. The person wearing Iruka’s face shoved him into the next room while Kaori hurried over to Tenzou, and after some surreptitious glancing around, followed him in and shut the door behind him. “Okay, listen, Hatake, something got fucked up while you and wood-boy over there were out of commission,” they said, making the signs to drop the henge. A young woman with bobbed hair appeared in the smoke, coughed, and waved a hand through the air, “I’m sorry, ok, I was never introduced to you but you’ve probably met my sister, Momo, she’s in charge of the shrine. Umino Nana, lovely to meet you.”

“What,” Kakashi said very carefully, “is going on.”

“Well, to start out, you and uh, Tenzou? Tenzou-san. Yeah, you were both drugged,” she held up her hands when he started to move past her, back to the other room. He already knew that. “We don’t know who did it. Maguro is on that.”

“Maguro?”

“Listen, you can meet everyone later, the important thing is that somebody has to be Iruka right now,” she said.

“Someone has to...? Why?” the alarm that he had first felt upon realising that Iruka had not been Iruka came back with a vengeance.

“That’s where you come in. He is,” she paused, glanced at him warily, “Missing.”

“What,” Kakashi said blankly. What she was saying registered in his brain after a few moments, but she had him up against a wall with a hand over his mouth before he could say anything.  _ Damn  _ his still-slow reflexes.

“We are trying to find him, but, gods above, Ika didn’t know that one of her guards had been bought out, and now we can’t find the slimy bastard,” she continued, letting go of him once he was no longer likely to yell or do something stupid. “Has anyone told you about what happened last night? Well, earlier this morning, I guess.”

“What?” he hissed, again.

“Okay, okay, do you know the shrine past the pond, sort of in the woods?” she asked. When he hesitantly nodded she said, “There, in an hour, before breakfast. There’s a trick door in the back and a small meeting room behind, Momo should be there. Kamome and Maguro are meeting us as well. Bring Tenzou-san if he’s up to it, we need more help. But for now,” she looked at him with the same, dark doe eyes that Iruka had, “we don’t know where Iruka is. He left the shrine and never made it back here. Maguro is looking for him right now.”

They left the closet, Nana once again henged to be Iruka, and Tenzou blearily staring at a glass of water in his hands. Kakashi took a moment to bemoan the fact that neither of them really signed up for what was happening. Well, they really had signed up for whatever was thrown at them, he sighed as he thought, so that meant even the steaming pile of secrecy and bullshit they were currently faced with. Gods, as soon as he found Iruka the three of them were leaving and never coming back.

Tenzou took the revelation of Iruka’s kidnapping with a vague frown that morphed into a completely confused expression in a very short period of time. Kakashi didn’t know how much of that to attribute to actual confusion and how much of it was from him still having poison in his system. In any case, Tenzou had an hour to clean up and eat and get introduced to Nana, so Kakashi left him to that.

He checked through Iruka’s things but, unsurprisingly, there was nothing there to suggest what had happened to him. The man was ridiculously neat and nothing was out of place. But, well, it was the best place to start. Kakashi retrieved a kunai and nicked his thumb, performing the hand seals necessary to summon half of his pack. Pakkun, Urushi, Shiba and Bisuke would be enough, and lower profile than, say, Bull.

The latter three scattered as soon as they had Iruka’s scent, but Pakkun hung around, watched Kakashi get Iruka’s things to take back to the room that held his and Tenzou’s possessions.

“What are you doing here, kid?” the dog asked as he followed Kakashi into the other room.

Kakashi gave the pug a measured look, and said, “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when we’re done with this.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bog lands are interesting to track through. Interesting, not fun.
> 
> And Iruka is more competent than Kakashi realizes.

There was a reason Hatake Kakashi was considered one of the best, if not the sole best, tracker in Konohagakure. He consented to let Maguro come with him, but only because the man’s knowledge of the area would be useful, and he didn’t want to run into any surprises.

They had left the rest--Tenzou, Kaori, the twins, and Kamome--in the compound proper, Tenzou using a clone to cover for Iruka in Nana’s stead.

Having talked with Kamome, Kakashi had a better idea of what had happened since he and Tenzou had been incapacitated. After their meeting at the shrine during the night, they had departed in different directions to their own respective lodging; Kamome had taken a room at her mother’s house, at the woman’s insistence, hence why she had not shown up at the guest house. Momo had remained at the shrine, Maguro had gone to a cousin’s house near the main house where he was staying, and Iruka had headed back to the guest house. He had never made it.

What happened between the shrine and the guesthouse, a short, direct walk, was a mystery.

Kakashi did not like mysteries. Kakashi also did not like that most of the land north of the family compound was, apparently,  _ bog, _ but he was having to deal with that. Maguro’s memory of the area was pretty good, though once or twice they encountered pockets of full-blown swamp following Pakkun that the dog all but ignored.

“The scent is faint and crossed in patterns; whoever these chumps are, they know what they’re doing,” the dog said, voice gravelly as they walked through the woods. That was quite obviously the reason they had slowed, and every few seconds Pakkun would pause to sniff around. Kakashi appreciated his ninken, appreciated Pakkun in particular a whole lot, but it was still more than a little aggravating for it to be taking so long for them to get anywhere. 

_ Patience _ , he told himself as they continued in a criss-cross pattern for the better part of half an hour. A virtue he had (in his own opinion) cultivated very well over the past decade or so, but it seemed to have completely departed him in his anxiety over Iruka.

Maybe “anxiety” was not the best word. Maybe “all-encompassing fear” was better.

They paused at the edge of a particularly large patch of still water, Pakkun sitting down to stick his nose into the air. “Kid,” the miniature pug said after a few minutes of sniffing, “get everyone except for Bull. I need help.”

Ten minutes later, Kakashi and Maguro touched down back on one of the stone paths that wound between the houses. The dogs had dispersed under Pakkun’s directions, following scents that even Kakashi’s highly sensitive nose couldn’t pick up. Pakkun had promised to report immediately if they found anything, but if the past hour and a half of their life had been any indication, it would be taking some time.

Time that they really didn’t fucking have, but Kakashi forced himself to be calm. He had faith in his ninken; he  _ had _ to have faith in his ninken.

Maguro broke that line of thinking when he spoke. “I have to go; I’m heading back home today. Asuka has to be back for a job, and I promised to help her.”

Kakashi was fine with that; one less person to worry about trusting. But still-- “Does this happen regularly?”

“What?” Maguro paused.

“This--” Kakashi waved a vague hand to the compound, the people milling around and going about their days-- “Family bullshit. Infighting.”

“Yeah. Let’s just say there’s a reason most of us don’t live here anymore. Grandpa...tended to encourage it, when we were younger,” Maguro shrugged. “This place is like an echo chamber. I wish you luck, and that you are able to find my cousin. You seem to care about each other.”

Kakashi managed a dumb nod, stared with narrowed eyes after the other man as he slipped away, into the bustle of the small village. He waited a couple moments before heading in the direction of the guest house.

Tenzou was much more coherent, enough so that he was energetic enough to be annoyed at Kakashi’s return. He was in the kitchen, being given plates of food by Kaori as he silently read from a scroll. “The twins brought this over,” he twitched the scroll, resumed reading.

Kaori hummed as she cooked, enough food for approximately three dozen people, and hearty eaters at that. Kakashi accepted a plate when she handed it to him, feeling completely nonplussed. While eating, he caught Tenzou up on the tracking. Really, very little had happened while he’d been stuck in the boggy woods, and though he knew he was allowed to, Kakashi felt it wrong to relax after that.

And he had the better part of the morning and early afternoon to waffle about his feelings, because Pakkun appeared just as Kakashi was getting ready to burn down the building. He was alone in the room he and Tenzou had slept in, and Pakkun wormed in from outside, trotted over to him, and plopped down, panting.

“Found him,” the dog said, shaking himself slightly, trying to cool down. Kakashi buckled his weapons pouch on and, knowing that he needed to thank his ninken before running to Iruka, crouched down to rub Pakkun’s head.

“How far away?” Kakashi asked.

“About eight, nine kilometers out. We couldn’t get to close; there was a barrier erected, and whoever made it knew what they were doing,” Pakkun said, closing his eyes and sighing gratefully as Kakashi scratched his head. “You should be able to follow the trail, though. Akino marked it from the edge of the woods.”

“Thank you,” Kakashi said, voice quiet as he continued to turn the miniature pug into putty in his hands.

“You owe us,” Pakkun cracked an eye open, glared without any real heat. “And you owe us an explanation. Go find Iruka, and take better care of him. Why the heck did you let him get kidnapped, anyway?”

Kakashi coughed, dispelled the summoning, and went to the other room to talk to Tenzou. That was mostly a blur, and Kakashi didn’t really become aware of himself until he was in the woods, following the trail that his ninken had left. He vaguely could remember Tenzou agreeing to have a clone of Kakashi in addition to the one of Iruka he had made that morning. The Iruka clone had spent most of the day wandering the guest house; Kakashi had encountered it once and the experience had sort of freaked him out.

But. Iruka. He was going to find Iruka.

Kakashi didn’t think much. He just moved.

He was roughly eight kilometers away from the guest house when a harsh coughing gave a person’s presence away. He couldn’t sense any chakra signatures; they were likely a shinobi, trying to hide their chakra. Keeping his steps quiet, Kakashi slowly continued into the woods. It was more jungle than the woods in the immediate proximity of the houses, and he had to slow to a snail’s pace in order to simply not make noise.

The pace was excruciating, and though the trail was obvious enough that he could follow it without a problem, something felt off. He moved closer and closer to the noise he had heard, and it was a relief to feel the familiar flicker of Iruka’s chakra in that direction. Kakashi continued, still slow, but picked up speed once he was able to tell that Iruka was alone.

He made sure to make an adequate amount of noise in his approach, tugged his forehead protector up so he could make doubly sure that nobody else was in the area with the Sharingan before he all but stumbled on Iruka.

Panic was the first thing that hit him, because it smell like blood everywhere, and Iruka nearly took his head off with a thrown kunai.

“Hey! Hey, it’s me,” Kakashi said, throwing his arms up in surrender.

Iruka warily stared at him from his position half-behind one of the bigger trees. “Kakashi?” the disbelief in his voice was a little insulting, and more than a little worrying.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Kakashi stepped forward, still cautious at Iruka’s wariness. There wasn’t any barrier he could make out, and whoever had taken Iruka was likewise missing. He stepped forward again, let a hand gently rest on Iruka’s shoulder, “What happened?”

Iruka snapped into report mode at that, which was almost a relief. “Two shinobi, two of Ika’s bodyguards--they didn’t even bother to change their clothes. Ambushed me when I was halfway back to the guest house, one of them managed to trap me in genjutsu. It didn’t last long, when I woke up I was here.

“Where is,” he paused, “here?”

“Woods to the north of the Umino compound,” Kakashi said, found his thumb rubbing circles into Iruka’s shoulder but couldn’t bring himself to stop.

“Okay, that makes sense,” there was an intense frown on Iruka’s face, one that meant he was thinking, “they were talking about getting me away. Someone paid them? I think? It wasn’t Ika; they were making fun of her for falling for their disguises. Someone else in the family?”

Seeing that Iruka was exhausted and probably also dehydrated, Kakashi changed the topic. They could talk about that later, when he was rested and had his wits about him. “Where are they?”

“They’re,” Iruka’s voice was raspy, “back there.” He hitched a thumb Kakashi’s hand lingered on his shoulder for a moment, before he went further back to where Iruka said they were.

Kakashi was not exactly prepared to find two headless bodies in the clearing Iruka had indicated. He knew, obviously, that the younger man had seen combat experience and occasionally took missions. But the cuts were clean and precise, the heads hidden under the bodies in a tactic that most shinobi took so they wouldn’t have to see the faces. A simple set of hand-signs was enough to encase both of the bodies and the decapitated heads in flames that burned hot enough to destroy even the bones. The chakra usage took a little out of him, but it was better than leaving the bodies there, devoid of their heads.

_ Two _ missing-nin, shinobi from Kirigakure, if their clothes were anything to go by. Fuck if that didn’t take him by surprise; their disguises had been well thought out and almost impeccably pieced together, and likely even Ika had been unaware that two of her bodyguards had been, well, disposed of before coming to Moku-jima. If that was the case, he honestly felt bad for her, he mused, as he picked his way back to where Iruka was sitting.

One of his legs was stretched out in front of him, stiff. From the darkness of the thick tree cover, Kakashi couldn’t see anything, but even through his mask he could make out the harsh scent of blood. And even in the dim light, Kakashi could tell that Iruka’s face was ashen.

He paused in front of Iruka, knelt down and let one of his hands hover over the man’s stiff leg. Kakashi was by no means a medic, but he had enough basic skills to tell that the wound needed to be cleaned and seen to, and soon.

“I’ll carry you on my back, we’ll go to the house,” Kakashi said, turning around and crouching.

Iruka hefted himself off the ground and onto Kakashi’s back.

The walk had to find Iruka had taken over an hour, but without having to rely on markers left by his ninken, the trip back to the compound proper took all of thirty minutes. Kakashi didn’t worry about how much chakra he was wasting. Frankly, if it was up to him, they wouldn’t even be heading back to the compound, Tenzou would be meeting them to head back to the port city.

_ You can’t have everything. _

“Is everyone...okay?” Iruka asked as they hit the wetter part of the forest. Gods, his voice sounded horrible.

“Yes,” Kakashi said it quietly. “Tenzou’s fine. Several of your relatives have left already. Apparently nobody really trusts each other.”

Iruka snorted, and the sound was music to Kakashi’s ears.  _ That _ was the Iruka he knew. “That’s fairly obvious.”

It was several minutes more before Kakashi spoke again, asking, “So, what now? Home? They don’t seem inclined to respect your wishes.”

“I would like,” Iruka whispered, voice quiet as they moved through the trees, “to go home. But we have to deal with this, Kakashi, we can’t just  _ leave _ .”

Kakashi wasn’t so sure about that, but he nodded regardless and made a mental note to drug or otherwise incapacitate Iruka at some future point so they could, in fact, leave. Fuck the island. Fuck everyone on it.

“I might,” Iruka said, hesitated, tightening his arms around Kakashi’s chest for a moment, “have an idea.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenzou is, in a word, tired.

Tenzou was tired. Exhausted. Beat to fucking hell and back. He wanted to sleep for ten days, eat everything, and then sleep more, but it was basically a given that none of those wishes would come true. After waking up to find a strange woman giving him water and then food, Kakashi being as hush-hush as he was (okay, actually, that was normal), and then a further twelve or so hours of not knowing what the hell was happening he had accepted that he had no idea what was going on.

Well. That time had passed and he was a little more clued in. “Little” being the key word there, but it was something.

The little that he knew was, in order, that Iruka had been found (by Kakashi) and was being guarded (by Kakashi) and that Iruka had a plan. The plan? Tenzou didn’t know. All that he really knew for sure was that he needed to keep a wood clone of Kakashi and a wood clone of Iruka bumbling around the guest house. No problem, clones weren’t too much of a drag on him. More importantly, he didn’t really worry about their behavior because nobody really came into the guesthouse, and nobody expected them to leave the guesthouse.

They sat around and played cards for maybe an hour and a half, just him and his clones, before Kaori returned. She had left with Kakashi upon his reappearance, and her own reappearance meant that she had most likely seen to Iruka.

“Hatake-san said he would be back to talk to you,” she said after she had removed her sandals and sat heavily down.

“When?” he asked, left the Iruka-clone to shuffle the cards.

She shrugged, accepted a hand from the Iruka-clone. Tenzou left them to play; he required food, though he would make enough for all of them, he supposed.

It was a damned relief to be able to make food after days spent not being able to. So relieving it was a little astounding; he felt like he had control over his life again. Well, then life itself returned and reminded him that he had very little control.

Kaori slipped in and took some food, resumed the card game while Tenzou ate in the kitchen, standing up. He was in the middle of moving the used dishes to the sink when Kakashi appeared, the  _ real _ Kakashi. The only movement Kakashi made before heading out the back door of the kitchen was a jerk of his head.

Tenzou held back a sigh, left the dishes and followed.

They went on a rather circular route around the greater part of the main cluster of houses in order to wind up at a small building right next to the guest house. The shrine. Tenzou held back another sigh. They entered the shrine, walked past one of the twins (Tenzou had given up on remembering names basically immediately), and Kakashi did something to one of the painted walls, slid it aside so they could go into a hidden room.

There is a brief moment where Tenzou experiences pure relief. Iruka, very much alive, though a little worse for wear, sitting with one leg splinted out in front of him. There was something about the expression on his face, something calculating that Tenzou had never seen before, and that gave him pause.

“Ah, Tenzou-san,” the expression changed to one of weary welcome, and he afforded Tenzou a small, wan smile. “I hope I didn’t worry you too much.”

_ Of course _ . Tenzou returned his smile with one that he hoped was sincere, said, “I am just glad you were found, Iruka-san. Kakashi-senpai was extremely concerned, but I knew you could get away.”

Kakashi sent him an absolutely rotten look. Iruka reddened slightly. Interesting. Tenzou ignored both of those occurrences, instead chose to look expectantly at Kakashi.

“Needed to update you,” Kakashi said after clearing his throat rather extensively. “Iruka came up with a...solution.”

“For which problem?” Tenzou asked, earning another rotten look.

“Hopefully all of them,” Iruka chimed in, somewhat sheepishly.

Tenzou eyed him, sat on the tatami. “Catch me up.”

“Well,” the sheepishness disappeared, and Iruka was all business, “someone bought off or replaced two of Ika’s bodyguards, several of my, uh, aunts are planning on forcing me into some sort of ceremony to become head of the clan, other aunts are trying to get me to marry one of my cousins, and I do not know what my great-aunt Minou is planning but I am not inclined to trust her either.”

“The rest?” Tenzou jerked his head toward the closed door, and beyond it one of the twins. He didn’t trust them, but then again the only people he currently trusted were, currently, in the same room.

“I don’t know. Kamome--I don’t believe you’ve met her, she’s a cousin--seems sane, at least,” Iruka answered, after a few moments thought. “For now? They’re trustworthy enough. For, er, what I have thought up.”

Tenzou raised an eyebrow, an eyebrow that said “and what you have thought up is?” rather simply.

“This was all him, I just want you to know that,” Kakashi said in that bored way that meant he was intensely invested in what would come next. Iruka sent him a look that was unreadable to Tenzou, at least, before speaking.

“Kamome suggested this, in part. The ceremony is supposed to take place tomorrow evening, and it in some way involves a cave to the north. Kamome suggested we switch places and she do whatever needs done, but I have a simpler plan,” Iruka said.

Tenzou would say that he was patient. After all, a life spent bending to the will of people in power meant that patience had to be cultivated, but really he was at the end of that particular rope. “Please tell me whatever your plan is, it’s not devious or involved,” he said, after a moment. In his mind they had one thing they needed to do: leave.

“Devious? No,” Iruka looks a little surprised even as he says it. “I was thinking we should just blow the cave up.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cliff goes boom. Konoha shinobi go boom, in a less literal sense.

Iruka didn’t know who was the first person to say that best laid plans often go awry, but he was ready to hunt that person down and throttle them. Everything, so far, had gone to hell, and he was damned if he was going to let the rest of their absence from the Land of Fire go the same way. No way in  _ hell _ .

The plan had developed accordingly, really. The only real way they would get out of the compound and guarantee to be left alone when leaving would be a show of force; therefore, a show of force he would give them. Tenzou and Kakashi seemed willing to go along, and that was enough for Iruka. He’d worked with less.

Though, it would have been helpful if his leg hadn’t been broken. Kaori was good at what she did, but broken bones were long to heal even with assistance, and Kaori was no Tsunade. Added to that fact was the additional fact that he was completely over-ruled in regards to the aftermath of said explosion. As he had told Kakashi, he was of the opinion that they couldn’t just  _ leave _ , especially since his long-lost family was fucked up because of him.

Kakashi and Tenzou disagreed, for some reason.

He could respect that, but it did feel rather sore to him, leaving during an event that would have everyone living in the valley reeling. But if it went as planned nobody would be seriously hurt from the explosion itself; the only danger would be from the aftershocks.

And that was how Iruka found himself in front of the massive, man-made split in the cliff that Momo had mentioned. He was inspecting it, leaning heavily on a crutch Tenzou had made for him. They had roughly five hundred meters of chakra conducting wire between the three of them, and Iruka hoped that will be enough for what he had planned. In theory and at a smaller scale he knew what he was doing; he perfected multiple techniques for small-scale, mostly harmless explosions when he was still a student in the Academy. It was just the increasing of the scale that worried him. Improvisation, as much as he hated it, would have to work.

“So,” Iruka gestured to the split with his free hand, “The wire needs to spiral out from the opening, I’ll feed it to you.”

Tenzou nodded, and began working.

It went slowly, Iruka having to push chakra into the wire every few meters, Tenzou having to crawl all over the cliff face to place it to his specifications. Then Iruka’s hand-made tags needed to be placed around the originating point, and Iruka had to set those ones to a central seal that release all of them at once.

Once they were done, all that was left was to sit and wait. At least Tenzou was good company, sharing with him stories of when he and Kakashi were younger, working together on the same ANBU team. By mid-afternoon conversation had dropped off, not from lack of topics or interest but mostly due to mutual tiredness. Since Iruka really couldn’t have judged how long the set up would be, they had left at a stupidly early hour that morning, and he was really beginning to regret it.

“Iruka-san,” Tenzou said after a few minutes of silence between them. His voice was interested, but not demanding.

“Hm?” Iruka looked up, felt a little perplexed by the thoughtful look on Tenzou’s face.

“Do you get on well with Kakashi?”

The question also perplexed him, but after a moment he slowly replied, “As well as anyone? Why?”

He looked up again when Tenzou made a noise, but didn’t reply. The look on his face was even more thoughtful. “No reason,” Tenzou said, belatedly, before settling down on the tree branch he’d chosen, a clear sign that whatever had just happened was over.

-

Iruka and Tenzou swapped with the clone Kakashi had standing in for Iruka halfway up the path. Tenzou stayed on lookout while Iruka explained how to detonate the chakra bomb he’d made, a relatively simple task that consisted of deactivating a seal and then reactivating it with a flood of chakra.

Really, Kakashi was not aware of all that; he was busy keeping an eye on the rest of the family. The only person they had told was Kamome, and her only because they were changing the plans she had made.

It might have been redundant, but Kakashi didn’t trust anyone. Kamome was included in that in that list, though much lower than most of the other family members and civilians.

There had been the communal meal, and then they had sent off (fake) Iruka to the cliff after a stupidly over-wrought ceremony. And so Kakashi was left to keep an eye on everyone, make sure nobody interfered with their plan.

For once,  _ for once _ , everything went right. Nobody headed toward the cliff, nobody split off, nobody caught on. The entire northern boundary of the compound went up in dust and fire without a goddamn hitch.

Kakashi had seen explosions. Well, that was a given; shinobi in Konohagakure tended toward fire-based ninjutsu, which in turn meant that explosions were a natural progression of that.

But those, in the face of what Iruka had just pulled, were like matches being lit in comparison to a goddamn out of control  _ wildfire _ . Despite the cliff face being a good hundred meters from the closest building--the bathhouse--said bathhouse was half caved-in from the tremors. Most of the people had fled into the fields, which were completely unharmed, those that remained among the houses doing so to help others out, or to grab possessions. The forest was, regretfully, on fire or otherwise destroyed by falling rock.

It was time, and as much as Kakashi wanted to admire Iruka’s handiwork he needed to meet up with Iruka and Tenzou at the western edge of the fields.

It was nearly pitch black out there and the smell of the tea plants was overwhelming, but Kakashi had no trouble finding them. Partly because Iruka was chuckling softly at something that had been said, and partly because Tenzou was walking in a restless circuit.

“Yo,” he said upon appearing out of the tea plants, taking on good faith that Tenzou wouldn’t try to kill him.

Delightfully, and mostly unsurprisingly, he was right; Tenzou merely turned to pick up the pack Iruka had sealed their belongings into. “Time to go.”

The lone junk in the harbor was the one they boarded, less than two hours after leaving the valley of the Umino family. It was smaller than the one that brought them to the island but would be leaving that night; none of them were complaining. Kakashi had spent no small sum in order to guarantee their passage.

Iruka disappeared below-deck, and Kakashi and Tenzou stood at the bow, watching the sea pass by under the light of the moon. “This’ll all be over soon,” Kakashi said, feeling immensely relieved.

“I’ve never known you to be so optimistic,” Tenzou replied, sounding a little disgruntled. Kakashi looked at him, and even if Tenzou wasn’t going to be able to see it he raised his eyebrow. “We need to be prepared for any potential repercussions.  _ And _ ,” he stressed the word, “I think  _ you  _ need to talk to Iruka.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things end; others begin.

The letter was unexpected, really. A very small part of Iruka had expected something of the sort, one last wrapping up, cleaning up the mess from the month before. Really he thought that they would send someone, but the letter is better; less chance to be messy. Or end in murder. In either case, he thanked the young woman who delivered the post and took the letter back to his apartment.

Despite having been back from the Land of Water for just over a month, his apartment had somehow not accumulated very much mess; maybe the three weeks his leg had been in a cast had been good, despite how damned limited his mobility had been. The only upside to that, other than the clean, was that he had not had to deal with his class while on crutches. In fact, he’d almost been bored because of how little he had to do.

He hadn’t seen Kakashi or Tenzou since they returned, both of them likely back to business taking missions. Iruka couldn't help but feel a tad sentimental about their time together as he sat at his kitchen table and opened the letter.

_ Iruka _ , it read, not exactly formal, and definitely written in a hurry from the relative sloppiness of the hand,  _ It has been three weeks since you left, and I felt it necessary to update you on the state of affairs here, after your departure.  _ Kamome, then, he guessed, deciding he needed some fortification in the form of tea. The letter was exactly as he anticipated, and not exactly a topic he wished to revisit.

_ Your leaving was for the best, it seems. After your departure, things went downhill very rapidly; many of my--our--cousins decided it best to leave, seek out their own fortunes, and leave behind the squabbling of our parents. I have remained, as have those who work the fields, to muddle through this mess. _

_ Grandfather has not yet named a new successor. It seems most likely that we will split and slowly disappear, like many of the great clans, and I believe that to be for the best. _ Iruka paused in order to get his tea, found himself nodding rapidly at what she had written.

_ There is not much more that can be said about that. Mother and our aunts have split already, at least on how they wish the family to continue, but I have taken residence in the shrine with Momoko and her sister, so it pleases me not to have to see them if I so wish. _

_ Grandfather's health has not improved, but I doubt you find that a surprise. Great-aunt Minou hopes that he will live out the year, but that seems doubtful as well. She doesn't care much for the problems that are going on, so we get on just fine. _

_ The harvest is going well; in fact, it is the best thing about the valley at the moment. Much larger than last year’s. Watanabe Koharu-san insists that we send some to you, so you must expect that in a few weeks. It seems likely that the farming will continue, as it has for centuries. _

_ Life goes on, I suppose. I hope that you have settled back into your own life, in Konohagakure. Regardless of whether or not we are in contact again, I hope that your life is happy and long. _

_ Best wishes from myself, for your health and happiness, _ and it was signed, _ Umino Kamome _ .

Iruka sighed, refolded the paper and set it aside. As much as he was glad to know that he had family, part of him regretted that the Watanabe had ever come to Konohagakure and revealed that to him. Especially since his appearance caused the entire clan to apparently self destruct, like, what the hell was  _ that _ .

“They had problems in the first place,” Iruka muttered to himself, closing his eyes and taking a sip of tea. His presence may have exacerbated the issue, but the clan itself was really to blame.

He moved his thoughts from that, instead focusing on dinner. He had some udon noodles left in a cupboard, and if he went to the butcher’s soon he could make beef udon--

A knock sounded on the front door. Snapped out of his thoughts, Iruka called, “One moment!”

Standing outside, looking only a little bandaged up, was Kakashi. Iruka hesitated for only a moment before letting him in. He felt woefully unprepared to deal with Kakashi. After Tenzou’s question to him about how he got along with Kakashi, Iruka had taken to avoiding the other man. Not intentionally, really, but the three of them had spent most of the trip back in complete silence.

“Can I help you?” he asked, after Kakashi had moved to awkwardly stand in the foyer.

Kakashi sighed, which didn’t bode well, said, “It’s been a while, and I would like to apologize for that, but Tenzou did mention I needed to speak to you and he was right.”

It completely bypassed “not boding well” and goes straight to alarm bells ringing in Iruka’s mind. He was debating whether he’d be able to run or not when he warily asked, “Speak about what?”

“While we were in the Land of Water I realized,” Kakashi said, and stopped. “Fuck this,” he muttered, looked Iruka straight in the eye, and in a very mortified tone, said, “I am in love with you, I guess.”

Iruka did a double take. Then a triple take. “You’re...you  _ guess _ ?  _ What? _ ” 

Kakashi slapped a hand over his visible eye but that didn’t stop his ears, still visible, from going red. “This was a mistake,” he said in a muffled, even  _ more _ mortified tone. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Iruka said, feeling his own ears beginning to go red, “you are not allowed to be sorry about this. It was obvious.”

Kakashi gave him a look that clearly communicated “what the  _ fuck _ ” followed by realization. “Obvious?” his voice cracked in the middle of the word, and Iruka was suddenly struck by his own realization that Tenzou had been wondering about  _ this _ .

“You held my hand in both ports,” Iruka said, beginning to feel mortified as well. “We’ve been very stupid.”

“We have,” Kakashi replied, now rubbing his face with both hands.

That dealt with as much as it could be, Iruka peeled Kakashi’s hands away from his face so he could say, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Everything, going to Land of Water with me, dealing with my family for me,” he said, and Kakashi’s face itself reddened.

“Your family is a little,” Kakashi coughed but didn’t pull his hands away from Iruka’s, “Dysfunctional.”

“It’s fine, I have a better family here,” Iruka said. Kakashi looked at him, and he smiled a little. After what they’d been through, Kakashi was a definite part of it. “So, dinner?”


End file.
